Daily Archives: November 23, 2019

The Thanksgiving Play puts four white artists in charge of creating a holiday pageant that manages to honor both the myth-filled U.S. holiday and the American Indian point of view. Of course, only disaster can ensue. The uproarious fun at Undermain Theatre, where the broad yet incisive comedy is now running, is in the how.

A member of the Lakota Nation, playwright Larissa FastHorse takes obvious pleasure in turning the tables. FastHorse came up with The Thanksgiving Play after she got tired of theater companies rejecting submissions featuring American Indian characters, using the excuse that it was too difficult to find cast members.

She has taken flak for her all-white strategy. But it worked. The Thanksgiving Play is one of the top 10 most-produced stage shows of the season, with runs at theaters from Tampa to Seattle.

If she wrote a play that just centered on all of the tragic elements of the experience of Native Americans in this country, it would be probably so sad that people might not be able to get through it, says Bruce DuBose, directing his first production since the death in July of Katherine Owens, his wife and Undermain co-founder. But what shes done is wrapped it inside a satire so that we can laugh at ourselves and start a conversation, hopefully.

At the center of this satire of political correctness is super-woke couple Logan (Jenny Ledel) and Jaxton (Garret Storms). When not fighting off their desire for public displays of affection and non-vegan cheese, they're twisting themselves into silly knots trying to figure out the right way to make a fair and balanced piece aimed at their elementary school students.

They certainly cant play American Indian roles or get beyond their privileged outlook on the world. Enlisting help from Caden (Ben Bryant), a nerdy, frustrated playwright who teaches at another school, and Alicia (Kelsey Milbourn), an L.A. actress imported with grant money, their solutions skewer not just white guilt but also some of the ideas behind theater-making itself.

Its a comedy based on good intentions and wrong assumptions that anybody can make when we try to speak for some group other than whatever conglomerate of ethnicities we might come from, DuBose says in Undermains legendary Deep Ellum basement space. Caden brings all this very true, factual history, and its so horrible that they cant even consider putting it in the pageant theyre creating. Thats whats fascinating about this piece to me. Yes, its a wonderful comedy, but at its center are these great dark things that kind of drive it.

DuBose and Owens had picked the shows and done a lot of the casting for the 2019-20 season, including The Thanksgiving Play, before she died of lymphoma at age 61. Owens co-founded Undermain in 1984 with Raphael Perry, who now runs Shakespeare Dallas. It was one of the citys first avant-garde theaters and played a huge role in turning Dallas into a first-rate theater town. DuBose joined the company a year later.

Im doing well, he says. Im still in shock about Kat. But working at the theater and working on what we worked on together all these years, this has been helpful to me. And its helpful to feel like Im continuing along the lines of where we were headed, what Katherine wanted and what we wanted to do with the theater. This is really our extended family, so its very comforting.

DuBose and Owens had a long agenda of projects that he will carry through as producing artistic director. This season alone, Undermain will mount an ambitious production of Adrienne Kennedys never-produced play based on the classic 19th century novel Madame Bovary. Its going to require 14 actors and period costumes, DuBose says, calling Kennedys style cinematic.

The company is also workshopping a new play by David Rabe, Hes Born, Hes Borne, as part of its Whither Goest Thou America festival in the spring, with a full production slated for the 2021-22 season. DuBose says it has a medieval, agrarian setting with peasants, angels, Death as a character who roams the Earth and its own vocabulary, kind of the way Anthony Burgess did in A Clockwork Orange.

Rabe will spend about six weeks in Dallas leading up to the workshop production. Undermain has a long tradition of developing new work with experimental playwrights like Rabe, John OKeefe, Mac Wellman, Jeffrey Jones, Erik Ehn and Len Jenkin.

In that vein, DuBose is looking at the possibility of producing a new Jenkin play as soon as next season, plus a piece about French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil that Owens had been discussing with playwright Lenora Champagne. Owens is a character in the Champagne play, he says. Next year, Undermain also will produce a new translation of a classic play that DuBose cant reveal yet.

To help him plan and execute this ambitious future, he has hired multi-talented Danielle Georgiou as associate artistic director, a move that he and Owens had been talking about. The dancer, choreographer and Eastfield College professor has her own accomplished performance group. She has been choreographing at Undermain for two years and has also started directing.

The company has established a new work fund in Owens name that DuBose says has already raised $60,000. Undermain is also looking for more space to build sets in, rehearse, teach and possibly produce second-stage shows.

As if she wasnt busy enough, Owens was also a painter and photographer. DuBose has assembled her sketchbooks for a display now up in the theater lobby, and hes figuring out how to publish her writings on theater theory.

Katherine and I together over the years created a culture here, he says, a method and an approach to theater that I want to install in the future of Undermain.

The Thanksgiving Play runs through Dec. 1 at Undermain Theatre, 3200 Main St. $20-$30. 214-747-5515. undermain.org.

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With 'The Thanksgiving Play,' Undermain Theatre's Bruce DuBose builds on the legacy of his late wife - The Dallas Morning News

Large new campaign signs for Verona Murphy have been posted on the grass verges on the approaches to New Ross and Wexford town.

Shes Local & Vocal, the sign reads, with the letter V engulfed in flames.

But if this strikes any passing motorists as a metaphor for the state of her campaign in the Wexford byelection, few people locally seem to take the view that she has been damaged by recent controversies.

Those erupted after Murphy said Islamic State was a big part of the immigrant population, that children as young as three or four may have been manipulated by the terror group and that some asylum seekers might need to be reprogrammed.

Separately, details of an employee relations dispute within the Irish Road Haulage Association, of which she is president, surfaced during the week.

In an interview with South East radio on Thursday, Murphy apologised for the comments on immigration and expressed an understanding of the offence and hurt that I have caused.

Former Fine Gael councillor Willie Fitzharris, who campaigned with Murphy last weekend, does not think her comments will damage her attempt to win the seat vacated by Mick Wallaces election as an MEP.

Shes a good candidate who shoots from the hip, and thats what has landed her in trouble, but thats also what makes her who she is, Fitzharris says. There wouldnt be a bad streak in her. She maybe wasnt wise to word it like she did.

Another Fine Gael source in the area, speaking off the record, says the view within the party locally is that Murphy hasnt been damaged so far by the controversy.

The amount of publicity, shes getting on every radio station, in all the newspapers, Ministers talking about her in the Dil where before has a candidate in a local election been able to get that kind of publicity? 100,000 wouldnt buy you that publicity.

Among those in the haulage industry in Wexford, which employs 4,000 people, Murphy appears to be admired as someone who gets things done. She is given credit for a reduction in road tax for hauliers in October 2015 from around 5,000 to 500-900.

She was very instrumental in the taxation on HGVs being reduced. I think she would have the support of the logistics industry, which is very prominent across south Wexford, says TJ Crosbie, managing director of Autocar Logistics, which is based in New Ross.

Few in Wexford appear to share the view expressed by Fianna Fil leader Michel Martin that Murphy was playing the race card.

Some in the industry suggest the comments were informed by her role in the haulage association, and her perception of the risks faced by truckers coming through ports like Cherbourg rather than general negativity towards migrants.

There was very little talk on Thursday about the employee relations issue that surfaced in that days papers; instead, people were more likely to mention the 16 migrants found in the back of a lorry on a ferry that arrived at Rosslare Europort from France.

Its a big worry for the industry, says one truck driver, who didnt want to be named. They walk out in front of you on the motorway so youll have to slow down. Theyre going around with battery-operated hand grinders to try and open the back of the truck. There wouldnt be much sympathy for them within the industry.

He believes that could have been on Veronas mind when she made her comments.

Murphys home village of Ramsgrange consists of a few houses, a large church, a daycare and family resource centre, as well as a shop, hair salon, pubs and a takeaway, all clustered around a crossroads.

In the Sportsmans Inn, a man who gives his name as Michael says Murphy has brains. Shes educated. She gets things done. She was only being truthful in what she said ... She could have worded it better, and Im sure shes sorry about that now. But shes not racist, by no means.

He points to a news headline on his phone about the 16 found on their way to Rosslare. Shes in the lorry business. Shes had to speak up for drivers. She doesnt deserve the flak shes getting.

Outside Floods shop, which is within sight of the house Murphy grew up in, not everyone has heard of her, and only a handful are aware of the controversy. But those who have are supportive of the local woman.

Verona Murphys not guilty of anything only speaking her mind, says Paddy Meyler, who has known her all her life. Verona Murphy is sound as a pound. She doesnt hang around. Shes not one who ever got anything from anyone else. Anything she has, she earned herself.

Those who know Murphy personally in the area cite her resilience and capability. They talk about how she left home at 14, dropped out of school at 15 and became a single parent to her daughter, Robyn, at 22.

A recent interview in the New Ross Standard describes her long estrangement from her family, and a period spent in homelessness before she bought her first truck aged 21, and her second a few years later. She was still in her 20s when she launched Verona Murphy Transport, which later amalgamated with another company. In her 30s she went back to do her Leaving Cert before doing a law degree.

Farther afield in Wexford town, most shrug off Murphys comments on immigration, and only a minority say they disagree. One of those is John Aldrich, a former professor of zoology at Trinity College Dublin, who has always voted Fine Gael but now says he would be more inclined to vote Green.

I didnt think what she said is appropriate at all, he said. Its nonsensical.

Deborah Doyle, who is working in Readers Paradise bookshop on Selskar Street, had never heard of Murphy before she saw a story on Facebook about the immigration comments. She was appalled.

What would a person be thinking saying that? Thats like a Trumpism. God help families that are just trying to have a better life.

A two-minute walk away, in Rainbow Wholefoods on North Main Street, owner John Linden didnt know a lot about Murphy either until recently, but he believes her comments have been blown up by the media.

Theres a lot of political correctness around migrants. I know theyve been through tough times, and weve got to remember that, but this political correctness around them makes me sick.

Does he make a distinction between political correctness, and the correction of false statements, such as the ones about Isis targeting three-year-olds? Well, you could be right. But, he adds, people are more offended by this whole politically correct landscape. He has, he says, considered changing the name of the store to Politically Incorrect Wholefoods. He still wont vote for her, though, as hed prefer to support a candidate outside the mainstream.

Nigel Hamilton is behind the counter of his shop, WR Hamilton & Son, which sells everything from carbolic soap to penknives.

I wasnt going to vote for her because of comments she made about farmers not being allowed to use the motorway, he says.

As president of the IRHA, Murphy campaigned to have tractor drivers removed from the motorway. But since learning more about her, he has decided to give her his No 2, after Jim Codd of Aont.

I myself left school at 14, so I know what its like to work your way up. Id have to admire her for that.

Hamiltons only objection to Murphys comments about migrants is that she apologised for them.

If we go down the road where someone says what they think, and then apologises for it, are we going to end up in a situation where people are afraid to tell the truth and say what they really think?

There is, he believes, a cohort of people locally who would share her views.

And theyre often the people on the ground with experience of it. Their view, and the view of someone in a big house in Dublin, would be completely different.

Originally posted here:

Local and vocal: What does Wexford think of Verona Murphy? - The Irish Times

News

When Hockey Canada's renamed minor hockey divisions come into effect next season, it will not only eliminate confusion, but will make the game more inclusive by eliminating some offensive terminology.

Shannon Coady is a little person who has been involved in hockey in Newfoundland for almost every one of his 42 years. When he was forced to quit playing hockey at the age of 14 because the local association and his parents wouldnt allow it, he became a stick boy for the AHLs St. Johns Maple Leafs after winning a contest in the local newspaper. During his interview when he was told to grab a pair of shin pads off the top of a players stall, he jumped on the seat and grabbed them. The team called and offered him a job the next day.

Coady went on to work his way up to assistant equipment manager with the Baby Leafs, and came to Toronto to work a couple of playoff rounds. He held the same posts with the QMJHLs St. Johns Fog Devils and later the AHLs St. Johns IceCaps when the Winnipeg Jets and Montreal Canadiens had their affiliate there.

The 1991-92 Baby Leafs, coached by Marc Crawford and with a playing assistant coach by the name of Joel Quenneville, had a couple of Francophone and European players who couldnt pronounce his name properly, so they just used Shaq, in deference to 7-foot-1 Shaquille ONeal, who was in his final year at the Louisiana State University en route to a Hall of Fame career in the NBA. The nickname stuck and people still refer to Coady by that name. It never bothered him. In fact, for a couple of years he even operated his own business called Shaqs Skate Sharpening.

You may have heard earlier this week that Hockey Canada has changed the names of its divisions to reflect age groupings, starting with Under-7 and going right up to Under-21. You may have also heard some of the chatter, likely from some of the same people who think Redskins is an acceptable thing to label someone, that as a society weve become a bunch of easily offended snowflakes obsessed with political correctness. (One thing that has always intrigued: The fact that when people criticize that term, they always seem to focus on the political part and never the correct part.)

Coady never got too worked up that one of the divisions was referred to as Midget, even though that word has become taboo in society. In fact, its pretty much the equivalent of the N word for those with achondroplasia, or dwarfism. But it never quite sat right with him. I never liked it, Coady said. Im 42 and its been around for as long as I can remember. As I got older, I dont have a word for itI just didnt think it was right. And I dont think it would ever fly in different sports.

As much as anyone, Coady realizes its the name of an age division in hockey and those who have used it have nothing against him and there is no intention to offend anyone. But words do matter and when you accept them you tacitly accept the negative connotation that comes with them and the power imbalance it creates. But more than anything, the name changes to reflect the age of players just makes sense on so many levels. Its the way the rest of the world has gone when it comes to hockey and its about time Canada followed suit.

When it comes down to it, none of the names of minor hockeys divisions makes sense. Do you have any idea what a Bantam really is? Its a small, aggressive chicken. What on Earth does that have to do with teenaged hockey players? Do you know where the word tyke originates? It comes from an old Norse term for a female dog and was later used in Middle English to describe a lazy man. Again, not a lot of parallels to young hockey players. Atom, Squirt, Peewee not sure who came up with these names all those years ago, but there seems to be a real obsession with lack of size here.

Good on Hockey Canada for refusing to remain stuck in the past. The age changes come into effect for next season and it will take a while for them to stick. For example, the world-famous Quebec Pee-Wee Tournament has no intention of changing its name, which is fine. But if, as a national governing body, you can eliminate confusion and make the game more inclusive at the same time, all the better.

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Ken Campbell

Ken Campbell, The Hockey News' senior writer, is in his second tour with the brand after an eight-year stint as a beat reporter for the Maple Leafs for the Toronto Star. The Sudbury native once tried out for the Ontario League's Wolves as a 30-year-old. Needless to say, it didn't work out.

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Hockey Canada's decision to change minor hockey division names was overdue and is for the better - The Hockey News

The patterns of behavior that characterize a broad part of the autistic spectrum are indirectly viewed as a hindrance towards the 21st-century diversity and inclusion goals.

Introduction

In April of 2017, Arizona State political science professor Will H. Moore took his own life. In the suicide note that he had scheduled to be published around the time of his death, Moore describes how his high-functioning autism obstructed his social relations, as well as his ability to produce and publish his work. Moore describes having reached this juncture after he was reprimandedin a certain wayfor regularly stating his opinions in a manner that unintentionally offended those around him. Being censored, silenced, ostracized or just plain bullied by peers for expressing a set of facts isnt unfamiliar in any way. Douglas Murray describes this phenomenon in his recently published book The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity, where he comments on the cancel culture of the 21st century, as well as the discontinuation of the exploration, discovery and dissemination of truth on university campuses.

A few months after Moores death, four to be exact, another individual with high-functioning autism was punishedthis time for distributing a memo. A former Google engineer named James Damore put out Googles Ideological Echo Chamber for discussion within the company. Unfortunately, on the 5th of August, the memo was released to the public, and Damore was fired shortly thereafter. Damore had created a comprehensive internal study about the gender gap within software engineering. By making use of psychological characteristicsmore widely known as the Big Five personality traitsDamore laid out the differences between the sexes, why this can affect the career choices men and women respectively make, and the gender gap that can result from these differences. Joshua Trebuchon (reasonably) noted in his August, 2017 Merion West piece on the issue that the memo was not without its flaws. As such, Trebuchon discusses the typical minimalist argument on personality difference and suggests that regardless of Damores use of well-established psychological traits and differences, the way that he uses these differences to argue against affirmative action severely exaggerates their significance.

Being socially awkward and not having a way with words myself positions me as a natural target for rebuke, much like Damore. The arguments put forward by autistic people (at least, those people with autism that are in such a position where they can share their perspective), usually, are based on empirical findingsand not on abstract assumptions about how one perceives (or ought to perceive) the world. The Google Memo by Damore, for instance, is based on findings concerning psychological and personality traits that have been in use since the 1960s.

The reality that people with autism tend to be more focused on facts does not imply that they cannot lie, but it is much more demanding for them to consciously construct a falsification of their perspective. This, for instance, is why Moore described in his suicide note how it physically hurt him to tell a white lie. Immanuel Kant would be rather pleased by the difficulty of people with autism to deceive. But, on the contrary, Kant would be less satisfied with the proposition that we, as a society, have seemingly abandoned our desire for truth and rationality. The disgust that is shown from certain neurotypicals towards those who utter a specific set of facts appears to be displayed without rational thought. In what follows, I would like to address the underlying mechanismsor rather the absence of those mechanisms that explain the inability of neurodivergents to follow certain speech codes that are related to the political correctness movement(s).

Autistic Perception

My view on (and experience with) high-functioning autism can be read at-length here, but some of those points may be worth laying out again. Among those points is the notion thatas far as I am concernedwe should not give preference to someones arguments, ideas, or opinions just because they play the auti-card. NeitherGreta Thunberg nor Albert Einstein should get any special treatment (regarding their statements) because of their condition. Ones agreement (or disagreement) with their perspectives should not be created out of sympathy for their conditionbut rather from the empirical or logical strength of their ideas.

I do state this a tad lightly because I am well aware of the various forms of autismand how they affect the lives of those with autism, as well as the people around them. Let me make clear, then, that if I use the term autistic, I am typically referring to high-functioning autistic individuals. That is not to say that it is straightforward who falls in the category of high-functioning and who does not, but this is, in part, because of the highly variable nature of the autism spectrum.

The fact that it can be difficult for neurotypicals to relate to the perspectives often held by neurodivergents makes it not only hard for people with autism to be understood, but this can also give rise to paradoxical tensions regarding the inclusivity of every possible (minority) group. This occurs when the conditions by which a group can indicate that it is being included are incompatible with the conditions related to a different group. It implies that conflict between groups wont be off the table when suddenly everyone is put in the same room. Being fixated on facts could lead, for instance, to someone with autism stating the obvious differences between the sexes, which carries the possibility of accidentally offending others.

Its not as if people with autism are typically elected class president each year or voted to be the most popular kid in school. Because of people with autismslets call them distinctive characteristics, neurotypicals often refrain from approaching neurodivergents. You could, then, say, Whats to lose right? However, both the suicide rate of adolescents with autism and the suicide rates of adults with autism would make it rather difficult to pass off the social issues of people with autism as insignificant. The lack of social communication is highly correlated with the suicide of people with autism.

Is there a clear solution to the conflict concerning the value of free speech and the potential for offensive speech (which can emerge when free speech is protected) to offend other minorities groups? Should the risk of neurodivergents offending other minority groups (e.g. racial, ethnic, sexual and gender) mean that we should shut down those who express potentially upsetting facts? Or, alternatively, without any censorship taking place, perhaps we could teach people how to handle a fixed set of information and the rules that accompany interpreting certain information.

Unsafe Speech

Not only neurodivergents now experience complications with verbal expression. The recent events surrounding journalism students made for another example. At Northwestern University, students were protesting former United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions appearance on campus. The journalism students tried to cover this protest by taking photographs of the student protesters, who were confronted by police when they were attempting to force themselves into the building. The photos that resulted from the protest, which depicted student protesters falling on the ground, eventually produced an apology from the editors of the campus newspaper, The Daily Northwestern, for having reported on the protest. At the heart of the conflict was that the journalism students were, responding to the changing expectations of the students they cover, particularly from those on the political left, while upholding widely accepted standards of journalism. While the latter will eventually result in the potential to cause offense, the former still suggests that most of the students are empathetic towards those who identify with a minority group. Meanwhile, the struggle with neurodivergents often rests on the assumption that their speech is intentional, without any knowledge about the hidden mechanisms that cause it.

We are well aware that telling the perceived truth does not always carry with it a positive effect. If I were to tell a person that he has acne on his face, he likely wouldnt be too pleased with that statement, regardless of its truth. But the unpleasantness that a particular truth carries with it should not imply that we ought to abandon saying it. Geoffrey Miller, for example, notes the impact of censorship in his July, 2018 Quillette article, where he outlines the effect speech codes have on neurominorities:

It [censorship] discriminates against neurominorities. It imposes a chilling effect on unusual brains that house unusual minds. It marginalizes people who may have great ideas, but who also happen to have mental disorders, personality quirks, eccentric beliefs, or unusual communication styles that make it hard for them to understand and follow the current speech norms that govern what is acceptable..

Being ostracized from a group for such a reason as the use of factual language seems ridiculous. The main cause of the isolation many people with autism have from others is related to the inadequacy of the cognitive theory called Theory of Mind, often referred to by its acronym T.O.M. T.O.M is the ability to put yourself in someone elses shoes and assume his or her perspective. As such, the concept is frequently associated with empathy. Oftentimes, people with a form of autism lack this abilityand because of this, they generally experience difficulties forming (social) relationships. Steven Pinker describes T.O.M in his 2002 book The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by referring to it as, one of the brains most striking abilities. Besides the predictability function of T.O.M, Pinker sees this cognitive theory as something greater than the ability to empathize with others: Our theory of mind is the source of the concept of the soul. The ghost in the machine [meaning, the mind carried in the body] is deeply rooted in our way of thinking about people.

The inability to assume another persons perspective makes it problematic for many with autism to even start a friendship, let alone maintain it. Maintaining such a relationship requires one to be aware both of what can be the compassionate thing to sayand also what can be the hurtful thing to say. Without these general skills, people with autism will, without a doubt, struggle immensely in the body of a social creature. Miller, for instance, suggests that, Aspies [people with Aspergers syndrome] simply dont have brains that can anticipate what might be considered offensive, disrespectful, unwanted, or outrageous by others. This should not be seen as an excuse for autistic people purposely to offend others, but many who lack T.O.M. would agree that its shortage has a substantial negative effect on their social interactions.

The Complexity of the Meta-Interest

Many who have a form of autism hold a profound obsession with a certain subject, interest, or object. Part of the reason for this is to subconsciously narrow the possibility of encountering an anxiety-provoking situation. Their fixation on their interest gives them the predictability that they desire in an uncertain world. They hold what I would call a meta-interest: an incredibly strong obsession with a particular subject, much like an infatuation of the long term. It has to be made clear that a meta-interest and conscientiousness are not related. This signifies that whether or not their meta-interest is linked with their occupation or study, the intensity that they have with the former wont be necessarily comparable to the latter. Apart from the intensity of the interest, the fact-, object-, and sensory-oriented interests are greater in HF-ASD [High-functioning ASD]. This is in contrast to neurotypicals, who are more likely to be interested in say sports or televisionand more likely to be socially-oriented.

A meta-interest is expressed on different occasionsand is expressed without making any exclusions as to whom someone with autism enthusiastically reveals their interest. People with autism dont consider if the recipient of the information would view the subject of their interest with the same passion as the owner of the meta-interest. Pinker acknowledges the struggle that autistic people experience when making connections with other social beings:

A mind unequipped to discern other peoples beliefs and intentions, even if it can learn in other ways, is incapable of the kind of learning that perpetuates culture. People with autism suffer from an impairment of this kind. They can grasp physical representations like maps and diagrams but cannot grasp mental representationsthat is, they cannot read other peoples minds.

Its practically unthinkable for many who are not on the spectrum to fathom the idea of a meta-interestor the extreme difficulty people with autism have in establishing interpersonal relationships. As far as Ive been told, relating to the concept of the meta-interest can be confusing for someone outside the spectrum because it gets associated with the hypothetical cognitive energy someone would have to put in to obtain a similar set of facts and knowledge about a certain subject.

The patterns of behavior that characterize a broad part of the autistic spectrum are indirectly viewed as a hindrance towards the 21st-century diversity and inclusion goals. We have reached the point that certain knowledge is forbidden to ever see the light of day. Murray addresses this anxious feeling that can accompany discussing nearly any subject of import in public:

To speak in public is now to have to find a way to address or at least keep in mind every possible variety of person, with every imaginable kind of claimincluding every imaginable rights claim. At any moment we might be asked why we have forgotten, undermined, offended or denied the existence of a particular person and others like them. It is understandable that the generations now growing up in these hyper-connected societies worry about what they say and expect other people to be equally worried.

Participating in these conflicts whereby you indirectly (and unintentionally) offend someone can be confusing, and, for many, it can be genuinely exhausting. To avoid such a situation, people might reach the conclusion that it is just better to self-censor rather than seek to confront ideas of substance.

Conclusion

But we havent completely lost the road to rationality. Steven Pinker wrote an article in June, 2019 for Skeptic Magazine entitled Why We Are Not Living in a Post-Truth Era. In this essay, he states that our innate rationality hasnt left us. Pinker argues that even by making the claim that humans are irrational beings, there would have to be certain criteria by which we judge rationality. This standard alone would make the irrationality claim rather weak. Like was stated earlier, truth and facts are not always valued enough. For Pinker, this is also one of the reasons why we make use of irrationality:

We all try to come across as infallible, omniscient, and saintly. Rationality can be a nuisance in this campaign, because inconvenient truths will inevitably come to light that suggest we are mere mortals. The dismissal of facts and logic is often damage control against threats to our self-presentation.

These defense mechanisms can be convenient to protect yourself, but they are less helpful to the overall picture regarding progress and truth-finding. This leaves everyone with a question. What do you value more? Your victimhood or intellectual progress? Bret Weinstein argued on Joe Rogans podcast that rather than adhere to the postmodern viewpoint by dismissing the scientific toolkit, we should equip everyone with the means to figure out what is true and what isnt.

Besides, when it comes to appreciating the difference between unintentional and intentional offensive speech, in my view, a part of the solution lies in understandingmeta-interest as a viable concept. This means that to understand someones actions in a particular situation, we should put effort into appreciating the underlying mechanisms that motivate those actionsbecause its not always the case that the ones who utter these messages are driven by some elixir of tyranny:hatred and malevolence.

Lastly, the autism spectrumand the disorders that comprise ithave been (as far as I know) part of the DIE-religion (Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity) since the start. This is hardly surprisingly. As I have suggested earlier, people with autism usually arent scurrying to social media and meet-up groups to form friendships. So exclusion from the normal group actually seems like the way into this movement. Unfortunately, for people with autism, however, their membership in the population with everyone else poses the constant risk of their cancellation, particularly when the political correctness movement continues its fixation on creating speech codes in public settings, such as universities. Regardless of the sincere intentions of the political correctness movement, its effects do not always bring about the expected outcomes its proponents may have hoped for. After all, a world where people simultaneously never get offended but have access to free speech is, after all, an unreachable utopia.

Alessandro van den Berg is an economics teacher in the Netherlands.

Link:

The Particular Discomfort Neurodivergents Have with Speech Codes - Merion West

President Donald Trumps decision to grant clemency in the cases of three military members tangled in war crimes cases raises questions about whether troops are being given a green light to disobey the rules of law.

But interviews with current and former military leaders, lawyers and outspoken military commentators also show a belief that Trumps actions may have no effect on troops predisposed to follow those rules.

Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, convicted of second degree murder in the death of three Afghans, was given a full pardon from president for the crimes. Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, who faced murder charges next year for a similar crime, was also given a full pardon for those alleged offenses.

Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward Gallagher, who earlier this fall was acquitted of a string of alleged war crimes while being convicted of posing with a dead Taliban member, had his rank restored to Chief Petty Officer by the president.

Former Marine Corps Commandant, retired Gen. Charles Krulak, released a statement on the Human Rights First website that Trumps actions amounted to circumventing the military legal system and the presidents intervention relinquishes the United States moral high ground.

Disregard for the law undermines our national security by reducing combat effectiveness, increasing the risks to our troops, hindering cooperation with allies, alienating populations whose support the United States needs in the struggle against terrorism, and providing a propaganda tool for extremists who wish to do us harm, Krulak wrote.

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Another Marine, now serving in Congress, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, released his own statement, supporting the president.

For years, rampant prosecutorial misconduct, political correctness, and procedures that weight the scales of justice against the accused have personified our military justice system, he said. Self-serving military bureaucrats have felt empowered in instituting policies that have been damning to our warriors on the front lines.

Hunter publicly advocated for a pardon of Gallagher before his trial earlier this year and established the Justice for Warriors Caucus with Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, to advocate for military defendants.

At least two military attorneys doubted that the rulings would have much impact on troops adherence to rules of engagement. But one of them saw deeper problems with military justice that may need the president to get involved.

Retired Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap, the former deputy judge advocate general of the Air Force, told Military Times that the presidents pardon wont have much impact on how ROEs are perceived among troops.

Lets give the troops credit for understanding that what may or may not have happened in a situation that occurred almost a decade ago doesnt have much to do with what they are trying to accomplish today, said Dunlap, who is now the director of Duke Law Schools Center on Law, Ethics and National Security.

I dont believe that the theoretical availability of a pardon or commutation at some undetermined time in the future has anything to do with troop behavior, he added. Ive actually never heard of anyone contemplating committing a crime including the remote possibility of a pardon into their calculation as to whether or not theyll carry out their plan.

Colby Vokey, a civilian military attorney and former Marine Corps JAG, also doubted that the pardons would have much impact on the battlefield.

Vokey referenced his son, who recently returned from a Middle East deployment as an infantry platoon commander.

They were all aware of these and other war crimes cases but never once did any of these Marines ever consider that rules didnt apply to them because the president had granted and was considering additional pardons, Vokey wrote in an email response.

Dunlap noted that ROEs should be constructed to enable service members to accomplish their mission while still complying with the law and whatever policy restrictions are put in place.

"Personally, I cant recall ever having seen ROEs that were not in some way more restrictive than what the law would require," Dunlap said.

ROEs in combat zones are not made public, and Dunlap said theres solid reasoning behind that. Doing otherwise gives enemies the ability to use the rules to their advantage.

He gave the example of a hypothetical ROE that demanded there be a reasonable certainty of zero civilian casualties before an attack is authorized, which is something the law doesnt require.

In such a situation, you can bet that the enemy is going to do exactly what you dont want him to do: surround himself with civilians so as to ward off attack, Dunlap said.

In light of the recent war crimes cases, Vokey said that the ROEs are not the problem.

It is the perversion of these rules in the investigative and legal processes which cause our troops to distrust the military justice system, he wrote. The root of these problems start with the inadequate, biased and politically motivated investigations by (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) and (Criminal Investigation Division).

In developing countries like Afghanistan, where local police are not always well-trained and military police are not immediately on-hand, investigators are sometimes accused of failing to gather the evidence that would be necessary in civilian courts to secure convictions.

Thats part of why some have suggested there should be a committee to review war crimes cases before theyre turned over to military prosecutors.

The culture in the military changed with the infamous Haditha war crimes cases, causing commanders to prosecute any and all allegations and presume guilt," Vokey said. "Hopefully, President Trumps actions will send a message to military leadership that the default position is not to throw our troops under the bus without a full and fair investigation."

But presidential intervention isnt something that Vokey sees as detrimental. Instead, its a key part of the process.

President Abraham Lincoln intervened in hundreds of military court-martial cases during the Civil War, granting many pardons and commutations, often against the advice of his cabinet and military leaders, Vokey said. His actions on hundreds of cases resulted in no loss of good order and discipline. To the contrary, his actions provided a sense of fairness and justice amongst military forces.

.One soldier who served with Lorance said the wrong signal from leadership can have swift effects.

Having been in the Army for ten years, Ive seen how quickly the leadershipboth good and badcan change the institutional culture of units all the way down to the troop level, said Drew Duggins, a former Army captain and special operations JTAC who served with Lorance in the 82nd Airborne Division.

Duggins disagreed with Trumps military justice decisions.

It sends a message to the guys on the ground that instead of trying to win hearts and minds and run a counter insurgency strategy that builds consensus and unity of purpose with host nations, our leaders at every level may be willing to look the other way, Duggins said.

Duggins cited the transition away from the Pentagons Dont ask, dont tell policy as an example of positive executive influence.

Many of the soldiers he worked with "had not been exposed to LGBT folks and had some pretty antiquated views, Duggins said.

The atmosphere shifted when all leaders, from then-President Barack Obama down to the company commanders, instituted the policy shift.

They knew that homophobia and hazing wouldnt be tolerated and I saw the mindset of the force change within a matter of months, Duggins added. Thats a testament to leadership. Now imagine what the lack of leadership from President Trump regarding war crimes says to our troops especially when you take into account his previous statements about killing terrorists families.

The perceptions of military justice can also have effects on the battlefield.

Retired Army Col. Mike Jason commanded combat units in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. In a Twitter thread this week he shared experiences with the fallout that military units face in theater when soldiers commit war crimes.

He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 when news broke that Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales murdered 16 Afghan civilians.

Jason wrote that his unit immediately began meeting with Afghan counterparts and tribal leaders, ensuring them that the soldier would be held accountable.

We are supposed to be the good guys. At our nation's founding, George Washington directed our troops to fight honorably. We designed the Nuremberg Trials, Jason tweeted. We chased Bosnian war criminals for decades. Our movies and pop culture taught us to despise war criminals.

"The decision to pardon these three men, countering the sanctity of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, the decisions of commanders, the verdict of their peers, our adherence to the Laws of Warfare---WILL have long lasting battlefield consequences.

Read the original here:

How the long-term effect of Trump's recent war crimes actions could play out - Military Times

by Brian Hioe:English /// Photo Credit: Brian Hioe

THE TAIWANESE pro-unifications left response to the ongoing protests in Hong Kong has been telling. Either one ignores the present events as though protests had not rocked Hong Kong for now close to half a yearone thinks of Coollouds sparse coverage of the protests, for one, despite translating and publishing a plethora of articles on recent social movements in Latin America, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Or, worse, some have even seen to fit to lash out at the protests, simply because they challenge the Chinese Communist Party.

In this, members of the Taiwanese pro-unification left reveal that their leftism is hardly leftism at all, but simply a disguise for Chinese nationalismand that while there are nationalisms both left and right, theirs is a very conservative nationalism, which invariably sides with state power and police brutality against the oppressed.

NO EXAMPLE of this seems to be clearer than Ka Wei-bo (). Ka, ironically a university professor, recently attracted the ire of Hong Kong and Taiwanese netizens after the death of 22-year-old student protestor Alex Chow Tsz-lok, who was a second-year student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Chow died on November 8th after falling from a car park during a police clearance operation, with many suspecting that Chow fell because he was attempting to flee from tear gas fired by the police.

Kas response several days after the death, on November 10th, was to post on the official Facebook account of the Hong Kong Police Force that, Finally there was a death, theres no need to protest at the Prince Edward MTR, theres no need to pay attention to that Haidilao, (), the former referring to a police clearance operation on August 31st in the Prince Edward MTR that some demonstrators suspect may have caused deaths that police covered up and the latter referring the death of a fifteen-year-old protestor whose naked body was found drowned in the Hong Kong Harbor and comparing this to the Chinese-owned hot pot chain which has a location near the Prince Edward MTR. While the circumstances of how this protestor died are still unknown, some believe that she may have been secretly killed by the Hong Kong police force, and her body disposed of in Hong Kong Harbor. With regards to Chows death, Ka may be interpreted as expressing something like relief, now that there was a confirmed death to the movement, not just speculated deaths.

Kas response was rightly called cold-blooded by Hong Kong and Taiwanese netizens. But one also notes the sheer conservatism of a self-proclaimed radical leftists response to the death of a young protestorone young enough to have been a student of hiswas to raise the disruption to convenience regarding the shutdown Prince Edward MTR as though this was comparable in any way to the loss of a young life and to make light of the speculated deaths in the Prince Edward MTR crackdown and the drowning death of a fifteen-year-old.

Indeed, a Coolloud article by Ka published on November 4th largely consisting of a rant against political correctness suggests that Ka would likely react against critics of his here as enforcing political correctness, something that Ka frames in the article as a product of western liberalism that has made it way to Taiwan and is used to attack individuals such as himself. For Kaagain, a Chinese nationalist more than anything elseanything western is therefore suspect and evil. And, though Ka brings up American conservative reactions against political correctness, Ka seems blind to how his critique of political correctness aligns him with American conservatives in a manner that points to his own drift towards nationalist conservatism. Attacks on the political correctness of liberals are, after all, a constant refrain of the contemporary American far-right.

Argumentation by other individuals that can be termed pro-unification leftists have been shallow. An article by Zhang Xiao-hong () regarding the deportation of Chinese tourists after dismantling a Lennon Wall on the National Taiwan University campus tries to depict the Taiwanese students that set up the Lennon Wall as somehow being the aggressors, in spite of the fact that Lennon Walls in Taipei have been actively dismantled by the Taipei city government and the current administration of NTU leans KMTas such, attempts to set up Lennon Walls have met with resistance from university authorities.

Indeed, it is not incorrect to ask the question whether deporting Chinese students and tourists for defacing a Lennon Wall was a proportionate response, or whether due legal process was followed regarding their rapid deportations. One also notes that the Tsai administration is perfectly happy to spend public expenditure deporting Chinese nationals in what can probably be termed as an election stunt more than anything else, while taking few measures to help Hong Kong asylum seekers in Taiwanmany of which remain in limbo, unable to work or study, and some of which are below the age of eighteen. The Tsai administration may simply be hoping to wait it out in the hopes that these refugees eventually decide to return to Hong Kong on their own.

However, in this case, Zhang sides with the forces of authority against students and, in fact, actually tries to make it as though students were those aggressors in this incident, simply for the act of establishing a Lennon Wall. Zhang also creates a set of false equivalences and misattributes agency in acting as though the students were those with power in this set of circumstancesit is not, after all, the students who decided on the deportation of Chinese simply because they wanted to make a Lennon Wall that was then defaced.

Argumentation from French NCTU professor Alain Brossat in an article published in Storm Media proves similar. Brossat, also a self-proclaimed leftist, bends over to make excuses for the Hong Kong Police Force. Brossat cites the deadly violence used by French police or by Chilean police during the recent protests there in order to claim that the Hong Kong police has been restrained and proportionate in their actions.

And one, too, has seen a defense of the police from Lucifer Hung (), who recently made comments on Facebook claiming that the siege of Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU) is a false issue. Ironically for someone so fond of lashing out at the imperialist west, Hung attempted to cite conspiratorial western media reports to claim that demonstrators who have been trapped in the university since Sunday, surrounded by police, were free to leave the university at any timewhen in reality student have been weathering tear gas and rubber bullets from police for days. Police are also armed with live ammunition. Many of those remaining on campus are injured and it is feared that they will run out of food and water supplies in a few days. Police have been filmed shouting that they wished for another Tiananmen Square Massacre to take place on the HKPU campus, suggesting that police may, in fact, actively hope to have the opportunity to kill the demonstrators trapped on the HKPU campus.

Again, defending the police proves rather strange argumentation from leftists who may otherwise claim to be opposed to the state regulation of sexual and political freedoms. And if the Hong Kong polices level of violence has not reached the level of, say, conducting mass murders, that does not excuse the Hong Kong police (or any other police force) for their actions either. Ironically, the emergence of the so-called sixth demand of the movement, to abolish the Hong Kong Police Force, proves fertile ground for articulating the radical abolitionist demand of a world beyond the institution of the police, but the claim of pro-unification leftists is simply to justify police violence.

BROSSATS ARGUMENTATION, as well as that of other pro-unification leftists also attempts to point toward shortcomings of the movement as though this were delegitimizing of the movement as a whole. Brossat points out the movements appeals to western powers to claim that the current movement is right-wing, as a separatist movement, and equates the movement to support for right-wing authoritarians as Donald Trump despite the movements own claims to be advocating for democracy.

Similarly, a few days after criticisms of Ka for his comments on Alex Chows death, on November 13th, Kas response seems to have been to repost on Facebook an article of his dating from 2013 and then on November 16th to publish the text of a 2016 talk given at Peking University that was later published as a paper in 2018. This offers similar argumentation in which he claims that any push toward Hong Kong self-determination is the result of internalized Cold War ideology regarding western notions of liberalism and democracy, are inherently anti-Chinese on the basis of viewing Chinese as uncivilized, and feeds into a clash of civilizational discourse. Any discussion of not just western, but also Chinese imperialism is simply construed as a failure to grasp the possibility of coexistence between Chinese and western modernityboth of which are framed in rather monolithic terms.

Kas comments on Facebook are probably more revealing of his true views, rather than what is dressed up in intellectualism. However, whether with Brossat or Ka, the argumentation of both simply is that the movement in Hong Kong is anti-Chinese. But in truth, the underlying logic of both is a romanticized, nostalgic view of China in which China is inherently and essentially equated with leftism, leading a view of the movement in Hong Kong necessarily as right-wingnever mind the millions of workers toiling in oppressive conditions in contemporary China or the history of leftist concepts of self-determination in the Marxist traditions that they often cite, such as Leninism or Trotskyism.

Indeed, much as Taiwanese pro-independence groups have become highly sympathetic to events in Hong Kong, seeing Hong Kong as in some way representing a potential future for Taiwan and in that way projecting Taiwan onto Hong Kong, the Taiwanese pro-unification left also no doubt is projecting Taiwan onto Hong Kong, seeing a mass uprising against Chinese authoritarianism in Hong Kong and this touching upon their fears in Taiwan.

Both Brossat and Kas logic is notable in, firstly, simply trotting out various leftist thought-taboos in the services of trying to defame contemporary Hong Kong social movements and, secondly, not actually presenting an accurate picture of the movement. Thirdly and most importantly, both lines of argumentation are damaging to the potential for a left intervention in the current protests, which is why there is utility in criticizing the fringe views of pro-unification leftists.

CERTAINLY THERE have been appeals to western powers to intervene in Hong Kong, as one observes in American and British flags seen during protests. With British flags seen in protests or attempts by movement activists to appeal to the British government, one observes a certain amount of imperial nostalgia.

However, one notes that imperial nostalgia is far from unique to Hong Kong. When a second colonizing force enters a country or territory and seems worse than the previous colonial force, then that previous colonial force becomes seen in a nostalgic light. One sees this in Taiwan with the nostalgic view of the Japanese colonial period after the KMT came to Taiwan, overwriting the killings and purges conducted by Japanese colonial authorities and the memory of anti-colonial uprisings against the Japanese.

Appeals to the West by protestors in Hongkongersor, for that matter, Taiwaneserepresents naivete more than anything else. Hongkongers and Taiwanese have, in many cases, failed to see the brutal underbelly of American imperialism, failing to understand that Americas only concern with Hong Kong and Taiwan is as a wedge issue against China and that Hong Kong and Taiwan are liable to abandonment if they ever became a liability.

Americas sudden derecognition of the Republic of China in favor of the Peoples Republic of China in the 1970s would be the first and most obvious example where Taiwan is concerned. It is a failure of historical memory that more in Taiwan do not keep this event in firmly mind in any and all dealings with America, regarding the possibility of Taiwan possibly being suddenly abandoned by America.

On the other hand, with Hong Kong and the British, one notes that the British only began to introduce democratic reforms into Hong Kong in the years prior to the 1997 Handover. This was largely because the British governmentwhich was in the process of dismantling the vestiges of the British empire at the timefelt it had to take some sort of measure to save face in the wake of the Tiananmen Square Massacre so that it was not perceived as abandoning Hong Kong to China.

To this extent, the present protests in Hong Kong actually prove a strong opportunity for leftists to intervene and to disillusion both Taiwanese and Hongkongers of their rose-tinted views of America and other western powers. The Trump administration has stated openly that it is willing to take Hong Kong off the table in trade negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping, with Trump referring to Hong Kong as an internal matter for China to handle and the protests there as riots. Hong Kong is, quite clearly, simply a chess piece for America in geopolitical contestation with China, as is Taiwan.

For American politicians, Hong Kong and Taiwan have provided opportunities to pass legal agreements aimed at sanctioning Chinese political elites, or otherwise signaling stronger support. But if it is in the greater economic and political interest of America to abandon support for Hong Kong and Taiwan, this reversal would take place very quickly, as it has in the past.

With the protest slogan Restore Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times ()one notes the term Restore () actually has resonances with KMT discourse regarding Restoring political control of the Chinese mainland. But there is no prior utopian order to be restored in Hong Kong or, for that matter, anywhere else. Rather, the present protests will have to create this utopia in and of itselfthrough revolution in the neoliberal city, a place of some of the worlds most unequal economic conditions. This is where the leftist potentials of the movement lie.

This is what Ka and Brossat ignore because of their greater Chinese nationalism, instead simply further entrenching the view of leftism in Hong Kong and Taiwan which has the left equated with China. Overall, this is a phenomenon that has led to individuals who could be won over to leftism declaring themselves to be part of the political right instead. In the case of Ka, he makes such arguments simply because of his own ethno-nationalist longing for China, and in the case of Brossat, this is Orientalist nostalgia for Maoist China coming from a westerner that does not seem to understand Mandarin, Cantonese, or Taiwanese Hoklo.

TO BE SURE, there are other elements in which the present movement has flaws worthy of critique. Brossat rightly points that the movements appeals to migrant workers have been limited and that the movement has, in some cases, led to assaults on Chinese.

But firstly, the overall aggression against protesters by police and pro-Chinese triad groups is much higher than any reactions by protesters against individuals they deem to be Chinese. And, though this could also be improved upon, the movement has made large-scale efforts aimed at outreach to Chinese, such as conducting protests in areas close to the Chinese border or in which there are a large number of Chinese tourists.

One has observed waves of Chinese support for the movement, as illustrated in Chinese posting pictures of their passports with messages of support for the movement, finding ways to post protest slogans on highly-regulated Chinese social media, and expressing support in secretive Telegram groups. This has also occurred in the form of traveling to Hong Kong to observe the events in Hong Kong for themselves, something which has already led to the arrest of at least a dozen or so Chinese. Ka and Brossat deliberately pass over this in their argumentation.

It is true that the movement still has many steps to take if it hopes to be more inclusive of migrant workers, despite that migrant worker participation in the movement could be a game-changer for the movement.

But migrant workers can frequently be sighted cheering on demonstrators when they pass by migrant worker gatherings, particularly if demonstrations take place on Sundaysoftentimes the only day that migrant workers have off in Hong Kong. And with southeast Asian residents of Hong Kong an increasingly visible presence in protests and attacks by the Hong Kong police on Muslim religious centers, the movement has attempted to be more inclusive to minorities by putting greater priorities on messaging in English. There have also been a number of events aimed at demonstrating solidarity between southeast Asian residents of Hong Kong and the ethnic Han majority.

In all probability, Brossat, Ka, and others have not traveled to Hong Kong to observe the protests and are simply casting armchair aspersions from afaranother illustration of how remote from contemporary social movements that a group of intellectuals that first began to be known from participating in street protests has become. And it is ironic, of course, for individuals who are researchers of social movements to be making up false claims about social movements.

One observes a similar tendency by pro-unification leftists to make up claims about movements that, in all probability, they have never been visited in Zhao Gangs claim that Taiwanese independence and anti-Communist slogans (). were everywhere on signs during the Sunflower Movement. Indeed, apart from that I saw none during the 23 days of the Sunflower Movement, after sorting through and categorizing thousands of images of signs and artwork from the movement in order to produce a 400,000-word online history archive of the movement, I only saw a few signs with explicitly anti-Communist slogans.

THE BANKRUPTCY of the Taiwanese pro-unification Left should be clear then, in its responses to the current protests in Hong Kong. Despite often militating against what is claimed to be state regulation of political and sexual freedoms, the pro-unification Left cheers on the Hong Kong Police Forces many acts of brutal violence against demonstratorsinclusive of deadly force, sexual assault, and what some suspect to be secret killings. This is simply because the Hong Kong Police Force acts to defend the authority of the CCP.

And intellectual argumentation by the pro-unification Left that attempts to deconstruct the demands for political freedoms of Hongkongers is based upon establishing a misleading view of the movement. This is one that forecloses the potential for leftist interventions in the movement. Whatever pro-unification leftists claim, their political views regarding leftism are simply aimed at justifying the exercise and expansion of Chinese sovereignwhich is to say imperialpower.

Generally speaking, these are individuals who once may have played a leading role in Taiwanese social movements but now, after having become institutionalized as academic elites at prestigious institutions, they seem to attack contemporary social movements out of some notion of ressentiment at younger activists of the current generation. Sometimes this simply strikes as jealousy because of a deeply internalized sense of growing political marginalization and irrelevancy.

One wonders if their contemporary views will eventually come to overshadow their past accomplishments. Yet, frankly speaking, the slide of individuals who were leftists in their youth to later becoming members of the far-right in a reaction to a younger group of activists is something far from unheard of. One thinks of the American neoconservatives, for example, who began as leftists but became increasingly conservative as a reaction to the rise of the New Left. This would be similar to how pro-unification leftists as Ka seem to have shifted rightward politically in reaction to younger Taiwanese activists.

The slide of such individuals toward irrelevancy seems irreversibleand this will likely ultimately be to the benefit of the Taiwanese and international left. Perhaps the sooner the better.

Excerpt from:

The Pro-Unification Left's Responses to the Hong Kong Protests Reveals A Sharp Shift Rightward - New Bloom

November 21, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) Where are the graceful transgender ballerinas dominating the world of ballet in the same way that trans women are crushing real women in sports?

We havent heard about them because there are none.

And why do we hear about trans women men who present themselves as females competing and winning against actual females in cycling, track, rugby, and boxing but not in gymnastics? So far, there are no men claiming to be females competing with women on the uneven parallel bars, balance beam, vault, and floor exercises.

Have you noticed that men who identify as women compete only in sports in which men also historically compete? Why is that?

Its because male DNA permeates every single cell in their bodies, rendering them utterly incapable of competing as real women.

No matter the degree to which female hormones have deformed them, or how much reassignment surgery has mutilated them, their bodies remain male, incapable of competing in sports which require a female body a real female body, not a Dr. Frankenstein-created version of one.

Men who pretend to be women cant perform and excel in sports that belong solely to women so apparently theyre not even trying. Doing so would shatter the fragile illusion that men can be women.

As one young man who aspires to be a ballerina recently admitted, I really was surprised to see that pointe [dance performed on the tips of ones toes] wasnt as easy and graceful as other girls made it.

No wonder. Leotards, tutu, and preferred pronouns notwithstanding, hes a guy.

And heres a short video of an Englishman who in 2017 was the first openly transgender ballet student to pass the Royal Academy of Dance exams. At 6 3 tall, he towers over the young women with whom he practices.

His teacher, Lynne Reucroft-Croome, told the UKs Daily Mail that she could not easily see a day when transgender dancers would perform professionally. Ballet dancers are a bit like racehorses. They have a specific size, shape, height of legs, flexibility.

Exactly. Despite their pontificating, accusations, and claims of discrimination, men dont qualify as women. Acquiescence to political correctness and social justice in exchange for the realities of nature and science is a miserable, foolish, impoverishing trade.

The increasing presence of gender dysphoric males in female sports, competitions, and dance is not about fairness to transgenders: Its about affirming the fantasy lives of the gender confused at the expense of all girls and women.

Its way too much of the transgender political forces to ask of half the human race. But theyre not only asking it, theyre demanding compliance with their unhinged vain conceits.

The complete absence of trans women from professional ballet and gymnastics competitions is a loud admission that males are not and can never become females, delivering a clear signal that all males should pull out of all girls and womens sports.

And while theyre at it, they should permanently exile themselves from girls and womens bath and locker rooms as well.

Transgenders crossing sexual boundaries in sports was a woke deception from the start, meant to further cloud the clear, immutable truth about the complementarity of man and woman.

Its time for this dangerous, grandiose pretension to come to an end.

Originally posted here:

Why are there no celebrated trans ballerinas or gymnasts? Easy: They are males. - Lifesite

Some were parents who lost children to suicide. Others were licensed counselors, students or advocates.

Nearly 2,500 people and organizations flooded the state with comments on a proposed rule prohibiting conversion therapy on minor patients, with less than 5% voicing opposition to the measure. The rest urged regulators to finalize the ban and curb a practice that advocates and mental health professionals say endangers young lives.

No one should experience the pain of being made to feel that a fundamental part of themselves is somehow wrong, confusing and in need of therapy to change who they are, one person wrote to the state.

The comments, which were released Tuesday in response to a public records request, include deeply personal accounts from LGBTQ people who wrote about wrestling with depression, their fear of coming out and the rejection they'd faced when they did.

I know first hand the hell LGBTQ youth live. Having to live closeted and afraid what would happen if we told anyone, wrote one 64-year-old gay man. We already hated ourselves because of what society was telling us, then compound that with someone telling us that we needed to be cured, as if we were sick!! Thats as cruel as it gets.

The Tribune has not used commenters names in most cases because the individuals had not been contacted for consent to publish what in many cases are their personal stories.

Conversion therapy systemically preys on the most vulnerable and self-loathing people, exacts monetary profit from them, and leads them further away from the help and emotional support they need, Ferguson wrote.

Many others said they know someone whod been exposed to conversion therapy."

We see nothing in the rule that would prohibit therapists from discussing a clients moral or religious beliefs or practices, or requires a therapist to contradict such beliefs or practices, wrote Jean Hill, director of life, justice and peace for the diocese. The rules specific protection for methods or practices that address an individuals unlawful conduct or unsafe sexual practices gives us assurance nothing in the rule would lead a therapist to encourage a minor to engage in illegal or unsafe sexual practices of any nature, regardless of sexual orientation.

The Rev. Russell Butler, pastor of Christ United Methodist Church in Salt Lake City, also urged the state to approve the ban.

The stigma associated with being LGBTQ often created by groups in society, including therapists and religious groups, has caused disproportionately high rates of suicide, attempted suicide, depression, rejection, and isolation amongst LGBTQ and questioning individuals, Butler wrote. We must do everything as a society to protect the physical and psychological well-being of minors, especially LGBTQ youth.

A review by The Salt Lake Tribune found 110 comments opposing the proposed rule, while another four individuals advocated for changes to the language. Some of the rule opponents were affiliated with socially conservative groups or viewed the proposed ban as infringing on their parental rights.

The proposed language change would take away options for youth and make them feel forced to stay gay or lesbian if they dont want to, one parent wrote.

Another voiced outrage that the state might sacrifice these youth for the sake of political correctness.

The agency could take the rule back to any of its licensing boards if it believes the public input warrants further review, according to a spokeswoman.

But Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah, said hes confident the state will soon have a ban on conversion therapy," adding that hes not surprised the public comments were overwhelmingly in favor of the change.

Utahns are a kind, generous people, he said Tuesday. And they recognize injustice, and they recognize when someones been harmed. ... I think Utahns have seen the dangers of conversion therapy and are standing on the right side of history.

Tribune reporters Kathy Stephenson, Sean P. Means and Kelly Cannon and news editor Dan Harrie contributed to this report.

Continue reading here:

Utahns support banning 'conversion therapy,' comments show - The - Salt Lake Tribune

By: Sammy Quarrato

Halloween should not be a day of total censorship. Credit: westernjournal.com

Halloween is a holiday that is celebrated all over the US and other countries in the world from Central America to Western Europe.

The holiday hasnt always been met with open arms from the majority of Americans, being seen as satanic and an insult to God for dressing as ghosts and witches due to the Bible damning these creatures.

What is unfortunate is that this type of puritanism is still present to this day, but its in a different type of mold.

This type of puritanism is what weve been introduced to multiple times in your and my life is Political Correctness.

The days of people calling someone Satanist is over when you put a white sheet over you with three holes to make a spooky face but now when you wear a Native American Chief costume, and you post a picture of you in that outfit, you get tweets of people calling you a White Nationalist or other ridiculous claims such as that.

It used to be the ultra religious right wing who would put so much focus on this issue but in this day and age, its the regressives who get outraged over such measly issues.

Now when you wear a hobo costume, you are considered insensitive to homeless people. When you wear a provocative police feminine police costume youre considered a pig-lover and submitting to the patriarchy; or, when you do a Trump impression youre seen as romanticizing with a fascist.

This type of Lazy Liberalism is what the majority of the American people are sick and tired of everytime they see a notification from Twitter during Halloween.

If you are one of these people, theres something that you should be aware of.

Instead of being outraged of people dressed as homeless people, go to a homeless shelter and donate or go to a soup kitchen and actually help them.

Instead of being enraged over people dressing as a mariatchi, realize that it itself is a costume and not something Mexicans wear on the regular.

And instead of flipping wall to wall from people dressing as a politician you dont like, how about you go out and vote?

And to organizations such as The League of United Latin American Citizens who want to call for the censorship of costumes due to them being degrading to Latin American Culture, instead of wasting your resources with this Lazy Liberalism, you can help the parents and kids that havent seen each other for years.

Those are the real victims and theyre the ones that need the attention.

The least of their concern is someone of a different culture and ethnicity wearing a day of the dead costume on the wrong day. They want to see their families again.

The whole point of Halloween in its origin is to be non-politically correct. Its why so many people despised it when it was first brought up.

We became a more tolerant and open-minded society overtime but change brings both good and bad aspects to it.

Yes, there are costumes such as Adolf Hitler and Osama Bin Laden that can be argued as being in poor taste.

But calling for censorship doesnt make those people that are being targeted feel better, it makes those who are calling for the unconstitutional ban of dressup better.

But to the majority of people reading this article and especially those who are planning to dress up, ignore the crazy regressives and insane fundamentalists.

And most of all, enjoy Halloween.

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