Daily Archives: December 17, 2021

Weve heard of the controversy surrounding gain of function research in Wuhan, China. Thats a term for genetically altering a virus which enhances the effects of that virus.

Beginning as a political philosophy to support social reform, progressivism over the years has become far worse. Activists observed attention, rules and money generated over public health crises so now they dub everything a public health crisis. That would qualify as gain of function.

Consider progressives unbridled support for the willful termination of the unborn. Weve seen how a progressive bureaucracy treats our veterans. Many experienced medical professionals are leaving the field as government becomes more intrusive into health care. Progressivism has become a virus creating a significant public health crisis.

Its also creeping into the schools with the introduction of books about sexuality with vile language not tolerated in school board meetings. In Scotland, progressives allow children as young as four to alter their gender in school without parental knowledge or approval (Newsweek, Aug 12, 2021). This certainly qualifies as a public health crisis.

Dont wish a progressive a traditional greeting for the season or give them a gift thats likely politically incorrect. The progressives will be giving guilt for Christmas and theres no supply chain shortage there. Thats the gift that keeps on giving all year, Clark.

Fortunately there is a vaccine for this public health crisis. Follow the science. Vote against all progressives like they did in Virginia. This is a vaccine that really does work.

Ralph Miller

More:
A Vaccine That Really Does Work - The Chattanoogan

This year, YouTube is trying something new: a 24-hour, gamified three-part interactive livestream called "Escape2021." Like YouTube Rewind, the ill-fated annual video event that preceded it, Escape2021 celebrated the years top content trends and featured some of the platforms most popular creators, as well as major artists like BTS, Blackpink, Doja Cat, and Olivia Rodrigo.

YouTube clarified that Escape2021 was not intended to "replace" Rewind, to which I say: tomayto, tomahto.

YouTube officially canceled Rewind in October, but the format died years ago. A sore spot for creators and fans alike, 2018s Rewind was the platforms last earnest attempt at a year-end video that celebrated the creator community while also wooing advertisers. Instead, it became a symbol of how YouTube had lost its way, jumping the shark to the tune of "Baby Shark." The internet burned it to the ground, making it the most-disliked video in YouTube history within a week.

[Disclaimer: The author worked as a consultant to YouTubes Culture and Trends Team from September 2017 to January 2020. She provided suggestions around each years top-trending content but was not directly involved in the production of YouTube Rewind.]

It wasnt always this way. Rewind was originally a celebration of all the things that made YouTube great, a joyous community year-in-review.

Initially a simple "top videos" list in 2010, by 2012, YouTube had debuted the Rewind format that would become standard: a recreation of the years top music videos, memes, and moments in vignettes that featured creators themselves. It was celebratory, self-aware, and silly. Every year, the budget for Rewind grew bigger, the production slicker, the references more robust. As YouTube evolved into an industry juggernaut and an advertising machine, Rewind transformed from a true year-in-review into a showcase of YouTubes shiniest, least offensive elements, a commercial for the platform itself. That often meant its most colorful creators were sidelined in favor of sanitized alternatives. The number of featured creators ballooned, as did the inclusion of late night talk show hosts and mainstream celebrities.

By 2016, the video opened with The Rock and closed with James Cordens Carpool Karaoke.

In 2017, YouTube faced an existential crisis: the "adpocalypse," a platform-altering debacle in which advertisers pulled their spots after discovering that they sometimes ran alongside extremist and hate content. To placate these brands, YouTube offered new filtering options that excluded wide swaths of content from running alongside ads. This change impacted the earnings of some of YouTubes most prolific and beloved creators, who watched their revenues drop as their trust in YouTube dwindled. Then Swedish gamer Felix Kjellberg, otherwise known as PewDiePie and the platforms most-subscribed creator at the time, made anti-Semitic comments and defiantly sparred with the Wall Street Journal. Advertisers fled.

As a result of this fallout, there was immense pressure on the platform to make YouTube Rewind 2017 as brand-friendly as ever. It opened with Stephen Colbert asking Lele Pons and Lizy Koshy, two innocuous Vine stars-turned-YouTubers, to tell him about 2017 to the tune of a "Despacito" and "Shape of You" mashup. The video featured at least half a dozen other Vine alums, including Logan and Jake Paul, and ended with creators smiling broadly and sliding through slime. There was only a single indication that YouTube was aware of the year it had endured: Kjellberg was notably absent for the first time in five years.

Pons (left) and Koshy (right) opening YouTube Rewind 2017.Credit: YouTube

As 2018 approached, its possible that YouTube thought the worst was over. Then, on Dec. 31, 2017, Logan Paul uploaded what is commonly referred to as his "suicide forest video," a vlog in which he encounters, films, and reacts to a body hanging in Japans Aokigahara forest. Paul, one of YouTubes top-earning creators at the time, endured scathing criticism and fumbled through a set of apologies. As YouTube scrambled to react, copies of the video appeared on the Trending Tab for a portion of users. The site ultimately took more than a week to address the debacle in an "open letter" on Twitter, which was widely derided. YouTubes moderation policies were called into question, with long-time news commentator and YouTube watchdog Philip DeFranco opining that "YouTube is either complicit or ignorant" in the video gaining more than 6 million views before Paul took it down.

Before YouTube could catch its breath, Infowars Alex Jones twisted Februarys Parkland shooting into conspiracy theory fodder. A video suggesting that Parkland survivors were crisis actors reached YouTubes Trending Tab, further eroding public and creator trust in the platforms ability to moderate itself at scale. June brought Tanacon, August the much-publicized Logan Paul vs. KSI fight. And then, on Aug. 29, Kjellberg posted a video playfully calling on his viewers to help him defeat a looming threat: the Indian production studio T-Series, whose YouTube channel was set to pass his own in subscribers. Kjellbergs "bro army" waged an all out guerrilla war: hacking printers and buying billboards encouraging the public to subscribe to Kjellberg and unsubscribe from T-Series, in an attempt to stave off the inevitable.

The PewDiePie vs. T-Series campaign would last more than seven months, with Kjellberg admitting defeat in April 2019. It was not so much a battle between one of YouTubes most recognizable, beloved, and problematic creators and an Indian production studio as it was an allegory for the end of an era. Kjellberg was held up as the last bastion of the old YouTube guard. If he succumbed, the YouTube we grew up loving politically incorrect parodies, home videos, and double rainbows no longer belonged to creators and the community that had built it.

SEE ALSO: T-Series finally surpassed PewDiePie in YouTube subscribers

PewDiePie vs. T-Series also highlighted the growing divide between the demands of advertiser-friendly content and creators ability to keep up. Large studios like T-Series could produce more content in a week than a single creator could in a year. Celebrities were opening YouTube channels with teams of producers and backing from YouTube itself. Plagued by burnout and worn down by demonetization, creators found themselves teetering on the edge of an uneven playing field.

YouTube Rewind 2018 tried its best to create a shimmering highlight reel of a terrible year. The result was, as tech creator Marques Brownlee put it, a "chaotic barrage of clips thats really hard to watch." The video opened with a (much-memed) Will Smith cameo and went on to cover Fortnite, parody K-pop, and then pause for an awkward segment acknowledging a bevy of social issues, including mental health, Asian representation in entertainment, the "empowering art of drag," education, womens empowerment, and "people who put aside their differences."

The flub led to an almost-inspiring unification of fandoms. PewDiePie fans were upset that their idol and efforts to defeat T-Series had not been acknowledged. Creators were upset that they had been portrayed as unbearably cringey. Driven by a combination of anger, embarrassment, and disappointment, they began to dislike the video en masse. They were eventually joined by the BTS Army, who were disgruntled after view count freezes and the removal of tens of millions of views from BTS music videos (a result of YouTubes perpetual fight against spam views) complicated their streaming efforts and jeopardized their record-setting goals.

Together, they made YouTube Rewind 2018 the most-disliked video in YouTube history. In 2019, YouTube returned to its list format and in 2020, they pointed to the global pandemic as a reason for skipping Rewind altogether. Finally, in October 2021, YouTube announced Rewind would not be returning and that they would be highlighting creator-made rewind videos instead.

So, is Escape2021 an improvement over Rewind? I think so. Ultimately, Rewind tried to be too many things to too many audiences. "The problem with YouTube Rewind," explained Brownlee, "is pretty simple: YouTubers and creators and audiences see it as one thing" a celebration of the best moments on the platform "and YouTube sees it as something completely different" an advertiser-friendly highlight reel.

YouTube cant make everyone happy, and Escape2021 knows that.

The eventfeatured notably brand-safe creators and trends. Mark Rober made an elephant toothpaste volcano, with an assist from Mr. Beast, as a gaggle of schoolchildren looked on. Soccer fan content creators AFTV commentated a nail-biting marble race crafted by Jelles Marble Run. A very charming magician duo faced off in a test of their skills. And there were no less than four Real or Cake guessing games featuring Sideserf Cake Studio. Most of these segments were accompanied by interactive gameplay for viewers in the live chat. This creator-centric content was offset by games and music video trivia highlighting artists like The Weeknd, Blackpink, Doja Cat, and The Kid Laroi. The finale featured a virtual concert with Maneskin and BTS, hosted in Minecraft. The tempo of the event was relaxed, even slow at times. It was beautifully produced and palatable and, most importantly, it didnt feel forced.

Julia Alexander, who reported extensively on YouTube for The Verge and Polygon from 2017 to 2021, and whose work is referenced throughout this piece, says Escape2021s format makes sense.

"YouTube is at the point where their creators exist in their own infamy, they kind of don't need to be involved," she says. "If we look at YouTube's trajectory over the last five years, what they want to put emphasis on as a brand, it's just become much more music-focused."

A lo-fi scene from Escape2021. Credit: YouTube

So putting on a show with big artists and spotlighting brand-safe creators is a smart path forward. "That way, it's hard to argue YouTube as being inauthentic," Alexander adds. "You can argue YouTube is making an advertising play, and they are. But at the end of the day, that's still better coverage than what they're going to get out of Rewind [which is] simply, It's cringey. And that's the best option."

According to Alexander, theres not a huge difference between YouTube Rewind and Escape2021. "One is in celebration of YouTube," she explains, "and one is in recognition of YouTube."

As I contemplated the stream, and watched a giant knife cut into an inanimate object for the 10th time to reveal whether it was made of cake or not, I realized what she meant. Whereas Rewind sought to encapsulate the culture of the platform, Escape2021 seeks to capture the content. Creators represent a wild spectrum of perspectives and personalities; theyre complicated, difficult to predict, and messy in all the ways humanity can be. Content, on the other hand, is a commodity. Content can be controlled.

Still, Julia thinks it would be wise for YouTube to invest in a new way of celebrating all of its creators, even the ones that dont meet its advertiser-friendly standards, "in a way that is not just a commercial on NFL Sunday." Thats especially crucial when Black and LGBTQ+ creators report feeling that demonetization affects them disproportionately.

The question is, "What [do] you do that celebrates [creators] and reiterates that you are one of the few companies [providing them with] a good revenue split? Looking at those types of positives," she says, will be the key to rebuilding that relationship.

If you want to talk to someone or are experiencing suicidal thoughts, Crisis Text Line provides free, confidential support 24/7. Text CRISIS to 741741 to be connected to a crisis counselor. Contact the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. 10:00 p.m. ET, or email [emailprotected] You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Here is a list of international resources.

The rest is here:
The death of YouTube Rewind, revisited. - Mashable

A protester who set fire to police vehicles during a riot that followed a Kill the Bill demonstration in Bristol has been jailed for 14 years.

Ryan Roberts led chants of ACAB: All cops are bastards outside a city centre police station on March 21 this year.

As the protest turned violent, Roberts threw cans, bottles and placards at officers, as well as verbally abusing and repeatedly kicking them.

The 25-year-old, who had taken cocaine and been drinking, then smashed the windows of the Bridewell police station on Bridwell Street.

Roberts was caught on film pushing pieces of flaming cardboard under two police vans and placing industrial bins around an already partially burnt-out police car and setting them alight.

He told an officer inside one of the vans he would go bang.

Roberts then smashed in the windows of a mobile police station and encouraged the crowd to help roll it over, before setting light to the cab while hundreds of people were close by.

Bristol Crown Court heard damage totalling over 200,000 was caused during the rioting that evening.

Giving evidence, Roberts said he got carried away fighting for freedom of speech during a protest against the Governments Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

Roberts told the court the Bill aimed to ban peaceful protest altogether, saying the demo was more about freedom of speech.

He said the mood of the protest changed when police donned riot gear as night fell and officers started pushing, shoving and hitting the crowd with shields and batons.

I was fighting for a cause I felt strongly about, Roberts said.

More than 40 officers were injured in the riot, which died down in the early hours of March 22.

Two officers, who had served in the armed forces, described the night as the most frightening incident in their careers.

Another described the rioting as ferocious, prolonged and determined violence.

A jury convicted Roberts of rioting, attempted arson with intent to endanger life, attempted arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered and two counts of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

Nicholas Lewin, defending, said the defendant had recently been diagnosed with ADHD, had been proscribed medication and was not a sophisticated criminal.

Mr Roberts is not a rampant fire starter, twisted or other, he said.

The issue of impulsive behaviour becomes more acute for someone who suffers from that condition.

He is someone on the fringes of society who is perhaps not equipped to be fully integrated within it I am trying not to be politically incorrect. He is not your average criminal.

He is content for me to call him Mr Roberts. He has in fact adopted a they or them and adopted a different persona in prison.

Custody for him will be considerably more difficult than it would be for somebody without his difficulties.

Jailing Roberts, Judge James Patrick said: You were actively involved in committing violence over a period of five hours.

You were actively encouraging the crowd from an early stage and your actions encouraged the violence against police officers.

You carried out a leading role in the encouraging of others in the setting of other fires.

Read more from the original source:
Bristol 'Kill the Bill' rioter jailed for 14 years - The National

Three wise men, bearing gifts, traversing afar. That wasThe Grand Tour Presents: Carnage a Trois(Amazon Prime Video).Except Jeremy Clarkson and co would rightly scoff at accusations of wisdom. And then point out that cars are much faster than camels. Oh and those gifts? A solid hour of gags at the expense of the French. Joyeux Nol indeed.

Petrolhead patriarchy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James Mayor as they were styled here Jerome Clarkfils, Richard Jambonmond et Capitaine Lentement rode back onto the streaming service with their second lockdown special, delving into the curious world of Gallic car culture. Zut and, if you will, alors.

Their road trip began in the Welsh hills, attempting a hair-raising mountain climb in French cars entirely unsuited to the task. By the time they arrived at the summit to admire the bucolic vista, their vehicles were virtual write-offs. Just a bit of wear and tear, said Clarkson with an insouciant Gallic shrug as his Citron Berlingos doors fell off.

A rallycross race to test hot hatchbacks descended into farce when it was repeatedly interrupted first for a civilised lunch of escargots, charcuterie and Chteauneuf-du-Pape, followed by track marshalls going on strike. Once the gilets jaunes had murdered the race director with an axe to the head (well, it beats punching a producer in a steak dinner dispute), proceedings got back underway.

The sequence was thoroughly stolen by production intern Marguerite, roped in solely because she happened to be French. She gave her rivals the finger and swore lustily as she drove, with subtitles handily provided: You son of a female dog! Go away in a reproductive manner! Clarkson called her brilliantly entertaining. Her own spin-off show surely beckons.

The pricey, pointless stunts were as enjoyably schoolboy-ish as ever. They defused bombs in the backs of cars to compare their suspension with explosive results. After Hammond crashed a propeller-powered Helicron, Clarkson sighed that his colleagues prangs were becoming so boring, they dont even bother filming them anymore.

Link:
The Grand Tour Presents: Carnage a Trois, review: let's hope the French weren't watching - The Telegraph

WARNING: spoiler alert for HBO's And Just Like That: A New Chapter of Sex and the City

While Sex and the City fans picked their jaws up from the floor and avoided Pelotons after watching that shocking series opener from And Just Like Thatthe next chapter of HBO Sex and the CityMeghan McCain was absolutely furious about the new direction her once favorite show had taken.

The conservative co-host of The View penned a column for The Daily Mail, in which she called the "misguided" reboot of SATC, "woke"a descriptor she brought up in various forms numerous times throughout her critique.

New u2066@DailyMailu2069 column:nnAnd Just Like That... Sex in the City died of wokenessnn(This made me VERY sad to write this)https://mol.im/a/10297831

The 37-year-old said she once enjoyed Sex and the City when HBO ran the show during her formative years matriculating at Columbia University in New York City

"The show was a true cultural phenomenon and for many reasons we should be forever grateful for the barriers that it broke regarding open conversations about women and sexuality," she wrote, before dragging And Just Like That.

McCain broke down parts of the continuation series where it failed her, including its "clumsy attempt to reformat the show into the woke and puritanical times we are living in."

As an example, she brought up how the central character of Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, "now plays the part of the 'cisgender woman' on a podcast with younger co-hosts," referring to a queer and nonbinary character played by Sara Ramirez, adding, "Because its so boring and un-evolved to be a straight white woman."

I dont know who to blame, the writers of the show or this particularly stupid and repressive time we are living in, McCain continued.

Another aspect of the show she was not on board with and called "cringy" was its anti-racist message, a plot point explored by Cynthia Nixon's character, Miranda Hobbes.

McCain said Miranda was now a "hopeless" character for her attempts at damage control after inadvertently making a comment about her Black college professor's hair.

"There is a way to execute important cultural messages without it feeling like it is being force-fed, and this show -- unfortunately -- really, really fails at that," McCain griped:

Because of this, the millennial claimed the show was not fun at all. Not even a little bit.

She also thought the fashion in the show came "across more like a costume-party than the fun frivolity of the original show," and said (SPOILER ALERT) Mr. Big's death after collapsing from a heart attack from an intense workout on a Peloton bike was "extremely depressing and confusing."

McCain admitted she was not a fan of reboots in general as some things are "really meant to be cultural moments in time and to stay there."

"We are living in one of the most repressive and anti-free speech moments in modern times," she continued.

"Wokeness kills everything," she declared in conclusion.

And just like that, Twitter begged to differ.

Plenty of users reminded her of what it truly means to be "woke."

Can you tell me what "wokeness" is? Or is this just another GOP code word that has no meaning, just used to confuse?

It seems like you are just looking for mindless entertainment rather than a meaningful story. I feel the new storylines are realistic and relatable. And the show was always lacking diversity and any attempts made to be diverse were poorly executed.

Iu2019ll debate you in this one.

Yes, SATC should be like Golden Girls, entirely un "woke". nnhttps://youtu.be/sgON0w-GivMu00a0pic.twitter.com/DyJsl6YQ4C

Hmmmm, sounds like these two episodes may have made you a little bit uncomfortable. I suggest you go back and rewatch the episodes and figure out what made you uncomfortable, stop making it a bad thing for people to be aware of others and how others may feel

You,write in your article, u201cwokeness kills everythingu201d. Wikipedia defines u201cwokeu201d as an awareness to racial prejudice & discrimination. I ask you, why is being u201cwokeu201d such a bad thing to you conservatives? WTH are you so afraid of?

Woke. Do you even know any Black people and what woke really means?

u201cWokeness kills everythingu201d ah, yes, letu2019s go back to being blissfully naive of the microaggressions (and blatant racism) that POC experience every single day of their lives so white people can watch TV in peace.

Sou2026 are you really mad that the show is bringing its characters to current times, ORu2026are you just mad that white men & women are finally understanding what it feels like to be aware of their skin color? To me, it feels like itu2019s the latter. nnBut yes, continue to call it u201cwokeu201d

WOKE: definition nTo stay alert to injustice in society, especially racism.nLesson Plan 101 - James Baldwinpic.twitter.com/Xp9LNx6BWi

It seems tone me, that the real issue is that the characters in a fictional world have shown far more growth and maturing than you have.

So basically because they addressed issues that deeply affects this countryu2014like racism, stereotyping, loss, adjustment, etc.u2014then itu2019s not fun? Just say you wanted a re-enactment of the problematic original.

So far, the first two episodes of And Just Like That have been released on HBO Max, with the third episode set to air on Thursday, December 16.

The series will have a total of 10 episodes, with new episodes being released every Thursday through February 2022.

Link:
Meghan McCain Dragged After She Criticizes 'And Just Like That' For Being Too 'Woke' - Comic Sands

Bob Seely MP and the Leader of the Isle of Wight Council, Lora Peacey-Wilcox, have called on Police chiefs to take positive action to address dangerous driving across the Island, which includes the reinstatement of a dedicated Roads Policing Unit.

In a letter to Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney and Police & Crime Commissioner Donna Jones, they said there was a growing consensus amongst Islanders that Isle of Wights roads were not as safe as they could be and expressed their concerns about the lack of a dedicated Road Policing Unit (RPU) on the Island.

It was in 2015 that Island Echo exclusively revealed that the Shanklin-based Roads Policing Unit (RPU) was to be shelved something that took several months to be confirmed. Then, in 2017, the last 2 RPU officers were lost from the Islands Joint Operations team.

The rate of road accidents in which people are killed or seriously injured (KSI), per billion passenger miles travelled, has been steadily increasing since 2016. Figures obtained via the House of Commons Library (pictured above) show that in 2020, the Isle of Wight had the highest rate across Great Britain and outside of London for people killed or seriously injured in road accidents.

In their letter, Mr Seely and Cllr Peacey-Wilcox have said:

We feel that dangerous driving is increasingly becoming a problem, along with related issues such as illegal exhausts. We are both receiving regular emails from Island residents and parish and town councils complaining about the dangerous driving of an irresponsible minority.

One of the reasons why we are getting more complaints across the Island may be because we have not had a dedicated Road Policing Unit for some time. Our Road Policing Unit is rolled in with the Islands armed response team, which spends much of its time supporting serious operations. Road Policing Units perform a valuable role not only in identifying dangerous driving, but also in education and cracking down on disqualified drivers.

We are of course grateful that teams come over from the mainland Hants. & IW Force to support us, but it is not the same as our own force on the Island. Now that our policing levels are increasing on the Island, we ask you to give serious consideration to the need for a dedicated Road Policing Unit on the Isle of Wight.

Dont miss another story! Get the Islands latest news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Original post:
CALLS FOR ROADS POLICING UNIT TO BE REINSTATED AS SERIOUS CRASH STATISTICS ON THE RISE - Island Echo

For two decades, Frank Eckhardt has worked to build a rural, self-sustaining utopia in the wooded hills of Cape Breton, and encouraged other German-speaking immigrants to quit the mother country and join him.

But according to the Nova Scotia RMCP, Mr. Eckhardt may have taken things too far with some of his clients who he helped start a new life in Canada.

Mr. Eckhardt, 56, was arrested last week and charged with extortion, after a falling out with a pair of German nationals who moved to Cape Breton on temporary work visas in December, 2020. The RCMP became involved following a rental dispute connected to a gym the pair were running in a leased space in St. Peters, a village near the Bras dOr Lake.

Its alleged Mr. Eckhardt threatened to report the couple to immigration officials and have them deported after they attempted to end their lease with him, unless they gave him money or property, according to the RCMP.

Theyre here on temporary work visas, so if they cant make income, they lose that work visa and it makes it very complicated to try to stay in the country, said Corporal Chris Marshall of the Nova Scotia RCMP, who added police are also trying to speak to other former clients who may have since returned to Europe.

In an interview, Mr. Eckhardt says he tried to help the German couple establish their business, and says they went to police to get out of their lease obligations to him. Four Mounties arrested him in front of his family, which he says was excessive - and he believes was motivated in part because of his past history with the RCMP.

Last year, the land developer was investigated after another pair of German immigrants accused him of giving them Second World War-era Nazi propaganda that denied six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. He acknowledges sharing material that is not politically correct, but says the couple had requested that material and were trying to blackmail him as part of a dispute over another property.

They complained to the RCMP, but no charges were laid because the communication was shared through a hard drive, and didnt meet the definition of public promotion of a hate crime, according to Cpl. Marshall.

Mr. Eckhardt has also drawn attention in Germany for his association with former business partner turned competitor Andreas Popp, another German immigrant who relocated to Cape Breton about a decade ago and is known for promoting extreme political views and doomsday conspiracy theories.

The pairs past was highlighted in a 2020 story by Germanys popular Der Spiegel magazine, which examined real estate promotions in Cape Breton that targeted German-speaking buyers who the magazine said shared right-wing ideologies and were seeking refuge from modern Europe.

Mr. Eckhardt said that article has unfairly painted him as a racist. He described himself as a critical thinker who reads widely, including books about the Holocaust and the Third Reich, but says that doesnt make him a neo-Nazi or someone trying to establish a right-wing German colony in Cape Breton.

Theyre all playing Nazi hunter now, but I was never a Nazi, he said. I have a lot of politically incorrect stuff, but its only for my personal research. Its just because Im interested in lots of things, and I like to hear different sides and opinions.

He said he has the right to his own opinions, as unpopular as they may be, and believes hes being unfairly targeted because of his German background. Vandals have attacked his business and signs since reports about him began circulating, he said, but believes police have not taken his complaints seriously.

Are I and my family suddenly the new Jews just because we are white, blond and blue-eyed? he said. Will we be [forced] to wear a swastika patch soon?

According to his website, Mr. Eckhardt was beguiled by Cape Breton about two decades ago, applied for permanent residency, and started a company to help other German-speaking immigrants do the same. In a woodlot outside of St. Peters, hes building a self-sustaining, off-the-grid community called the Cape Breton Eco Village, complete with ponds, fruit trees, a greenhouse and its own 5,000-watt solar power generating station.

His world view is that mainstream society has gone wrong and governments are becoming increasingly authoritarian, and he urges like-minded people to find alternative ways to live. Gradually more and more people are slowly realizing that there is something wrong with our society, his website reads.

Mr. Eckhardt is not a registered real estate agent with the Nova Scotia Association of Realtors, although he sells property that he owns or co-owns. He stresses on his website he is also not an immigration consultant, although he offers advice to prospective German-speaking newcomers on everything from Nova Scotias school system to establishing new business ventures, for a fee.

In 2015, an Austrian family went public with complaints about Mr. Eckhardt, after they were ordered to leave the country by the Canadian Border Services Agency. They claimed the developer was advising them on obtaining Canadian citizenship, and told them theyd have no problem once they completed a property sale for which he would receive a commission. Mr. Eckhardt denies this.

Juergen Gindner, another German-Canadian land developer in Cape Breton who works with Mr. Popp, said the association between German-speaking land buyers in Cape Breton and far-right views has been unfairly characterized. He said Mr. Popp, who has denied promoting extreme right-wing ideologies, plays host to seminars in Cape Breton for prospective buyers where they discuss issues of finance, economics, health and spirituality.

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Read the original:
Cape Breton land developer charged with extortion - The Globe and Mail

Mispronouncing names may show disrespect; whether it is micro-aggression or not depends on the historical and cultural contexts

Shakespeare had to choose one of his most endearing heroines to voice the politically incorrect. True, Juliet was too young and too desperately in love to bother about complicated theories of words and their signification, but her heartfelt cry Whats in a name? remains high on any quotation list. The rose would be the same if it had another name, just as Montague, the name her family hates, is not the hand or foot of her beloved. Then she rushes headlong into riskier territory: her Romeo would not lose any of his dear perfection were he not called Romeo. And this is not what a less loving world is willing to accept. Changing names is unthinkable: one of its associations is with slavery. It symbolizes domination. Hardly surprising that in India, a woman till the early 20th century could have had her name changed after marriage: her past life and identity were erased.

The power imbalance is subtler in the mispronunciation of names. This is what a growing movement is calling micro-aggression, reminding the person with an out of the mainstream name that he or she does not belong, or is not important enough to bother about. The cultural and barely disguised political import of this attitude is being addressed in Britain by people who refuse to smooth their names to suit the English-speaking tongue. The problem is the dominance of the English language and Britains colonial history. Cultural and economic dominance is as bad; Americans are being called out for mispronouncing Glasgow, for example, or the surname of the brilliant young tennis player, Stefanos Tsitsipas. Why should newscasters have problems with internet pronunciation guides at their fingertips? Ensuring that their name is pronounced correctly is equated by the protesters with the retrieval of identity, cultural and linguistic backgrounds and family histories not meant for erasure. Just the courtesy to ask how a name is pronounced would lessen the ire; it would show respect.

But the sense of identity is not woven into names in the same way universally, or a multilingual country like India would be heaving in endless battles over these little acts of bigotry as people from the north to the south, from the hills to the plains, struggled to pronounce their neighbours name accurately. As though India had not conflicts enough: some, ironically, identifiable through names too, such as those denoting caste. But trust Shakespeare to play both sides in the same scene. As Juliet recognizes her beloveds voice and asks if he is not Romeo, the Montague, he is forced to say he is neither if she despises these names. Distorting names is not as bad as dropping them altogether, but an earnest effort at correct pronunciation would help surely? After all, most cultures have histories to transcend and a brave new world to accommodate. As did the Montagues and Capulets, who realized that tragically late.

Originally posted here:
Editorial: Get that right - Telegraph India

Introductions

Scene: a drawing room in London.

When the recording starts, Taki is already mid-anecdote

Taki: I was sent out to Monte Carlo to speak to Roger Moore. The Spectator offered to pay all my expenses. I said thank you, Ill pay my own. I went and had a terrific drunken dinner with Roger who really spilled the beans, cos we were buddies. I came back. The tape was empty because Id never turned the recorder on.

Joan: Id known Roger since I was 15, because my father was a big agent in London and I came back from school oh, 14 actually, because I left school at 15 and theres the most gorgeous man Ive ever seen standing there. He came over and said: How do you do? You must be Joan, my name is Roger Moore. And I said: Hello, how are you? Whats that screeching in the background from Daddys office? And he said: Oh thats my wife. Your fathers trying to get her to go on tour and she doesnt want to do it. Her name was Dorothy Squires, who you mightve known.

Taki: Of course!

Joan: Famous for being rather loudmouthed, let us say.

Taki: The third wife, Luisa she and I became friends. She spoke no language but Italian. One day after I came out of Pentonville University, Bill Buckley had rented the Chteau de Rougemont an 18th-/17th-century chteau to give a party for me, so I arrived there and Roger and Luisa were coming out of the car. Luisa in a loud voice said: Roger, Roger, questo, chi uscito di prigione [thats the man who just came out of prison]. Roger turned around to shush her and he hit his head on this enormous gate and knocked himself out. And there I was, so Pat Buckley came down and said: My God, Taki, we cant take you anywhere! You come out of jail and you knock out Roger Moore! Of course Roger and I were great friends. He used to tell me all these jokes, oh you know Roger.

Joan: Oh, I know! Some of them were a bit stale after a while But people used to make outrageous jokes! I mean, I grew up going to variety theatres all the time. Then I went to America and there was Milton Berle and Don Rickles, all politically incorrect

Taki: They were all Jewish and they were all the best, of course. The best was Jackie Mason. He said: You know how you can tell the Christians in this town? How? They wait in line. But Joan, you cant tell jokes any more.

Joan: No, you cant. And thats wokeness (and such a weird word, wokery, wokeness). The problem is that you cant have an opinion about anything. I dont wish to get cancelled.

Taki: Except, Joan, you should cancel them!

Joan: Saturday Night Live used to be hysterically funny and very politically incorrect. Now its sacrificed humour for wokeness.

Taki: Completely.

Joan: I havent been to America for about six months now, but Ive certainly seen this country become more humourless.

Taki: I think in academic circles its just as bad here as it is over in America. In society I think its worse over there. I went to an opening last night. A friend had an exhibition and I was being a drunk and I was saying terrible things and nobody told me to shut up. In New York Im much more careful. Here I was surrounded by friends, and you know the English have a sense of humour. In America all you hear is: What do you mean by that? Especially from women: What do you mean by that? What do you think I mean?

Joan: What I find really sad is the people I dont know who these people are who are going into libraries and schools and universities and colleges and saying you cant say that in this book, childrens books even, and cancelling things. They havent got to Shakespeare and Shaw yet but they will. People say to me: Why do you want to call yourself an actress? Its not politically correct. I say: Are you kidding? Its not politically correct? Why? I will call myself an actress to my dying day.

Taki: Sorry to interrupt you, Joan, but youre so right. The idea to hear a beautiful woman say Yeah, Im an actor ha! Really, are you in drag? An actress is an actress!

Joan: Help yourself to more wine.

Taki: Were starting early!

Taki: I was thinking, you know, that we went out on two dates. The last date was 31 years ago. We went to Annabels, the two of us, and then I tried to kiss you, and you said: Im in a relationship. So when I read in your book your thing about Robin Hurlstone I said: Whos that asshole? But the date before was 64 years ago

Joan: Didnt you also have a fight with Nicky Hilton in the lobby in the Plaza?

Taki: Over you! Over you! It was 1957! Do you believe this crap? Were still around!

Joan: A real fist-fight! Two young men brawling over me!

Taki: He was tough.

Joan: I was very flattered. And you had just bought me something. A little anchor covered in diamonds, very lovely it was. I think your father liked me.

Taki: Who do you think put up the money for that?!

Joan: I think Nicky was a bit of a

Taki: shithead.

Joan: A bit of a broken record, yes.

Taki: Yes. He used to beat up Elizabeth Taylor.

Joan: My aunt Pauline was on the beach opposite the Carlton when they were on honeymoon in 1950 and she saw him slap her around. I knew Elizabeth quite well, she was very funny. When I got divorced from Peter Holm, my fourth husband, she sent me over a note which said: Im still ahead by three!

Taki: Thats very funny.

Joan: I did her last film, you know, and she was not well. She could hardly walk, and she was playing an agent. It was with Shirley MacLaine and Debbie Reynolds. We were three actresses, dancers and she was our agent, she was playing Sue Mengers, did you ever meet Sue Mengers?

Taki: She wrote me a letter when I was in prison.

Joan: You knew Sue?!

Taki: I didnt know her. She wrote me a letter when I went to Pentonville, wishing me well and saying when you come out, come and see me. I never did, but that was very kind of her. Im sure somebody told her there was a nice guy who was in Pentonville, having advanced studies, so she wrote to me.

Joan: She was like that. She didnt care what she said. I knew her when she was a secretary at William Morris and she became very friendly with Tony Newley

Taki: Your husband.

Joan: Yes. We used to invite her to Montauk. I was pregnant, I was pregnant the whole time, and she used to come, we had a lot of gay friends and she would sunbathe in the nude, and

Taki: And a lot of people became gay.

Joan: She didnt care. She was very pretty.

Taki: Well, anyway, when I read your memoirs, you said that after you broke up with that asshole Robin Hurlstone the Bamfords and Hugo Guinness stopped speaking to you. And I said: Jesus, Hugo will believe anything, Hugo will do anything!

Joan: Yes, well, unfortunately he did.

Taki: Who is Robin Hurlstone?

Joan: Hes an art dealer. He works from a small flat somewhere, I dont know. He was really anti-everything. The thing that really started us on a downward spiral was when I got an OBE in 1997, and I said: This is so exciting, Im so thrilled! Im going to Buckingham Palace. Youll come of course. But he said, Im not coming to Buckingham Palace just to get a silly little OBE. If you get a damehood Ill go

Taki: I mean, what an asshole!

Joan: How did you and I first meet? Across a crowded room?

Taki: Yes, across a crowded room in El Morocco. The funny thing is that the present editor, Fraser Nelson, I had lunch with him recently and he asked me: How did you meet Joan Collins? Fraser is obviously unsophisticated at picking up women. We were in a nightclub, and we exchanged glances across a crowded room. You came in, the first two, three tables were full of really big shots. And then for the, lets say, the people who were not known, werent perfectly dressed, there was a faraway room which was called Siberia. But thats how life was then. And anyway, I saw you. I thought you were very pretty. We met, and I think we had a fight with a man who was wearing a toupee. And the toupee came off.

Joan: Really?

Taki: Yeah, George DeWitt. He was a comedian, and he had the hots for you. You didnt know him. He introduced me to you, and then I started talking to you, and he said: Get out. I was 20 then, pulled his toupee off, it was terrible

Joan: But I wasnt with this guy?

Taki: No, you werent with him.

Joan: I think I was with my agent or something. But then you pursued me to Los Angeles.

Taki: I came out to Los Angeles, and then you dropped me like a hot potato because you went to star in The Bravados.

Joan: Oh, I didnt drop you like a hot potato!

Taki: Like a hot potato! And I flew back.

Joan: And your fight with Nicky you didnt challenge him to a duel? Men were men and women were women then.

Taki: Yeah, but then people had terrific manners. You knew if you had bad manners, youd be shot. But I see the Hiltons continued their elegant lifestyle

Joan: I dont know them very well.

Taki: Youre not missing much.

Joan: Paris used to compare her sister to Jackie and me.

Taki: Sorry, theres a difference. The Collins sisters had talent. The Hilton sisters have a PR guy.

Joan: I think nowadays people are frightened, I think actresses, particularly, are frightened to look like stars, or act like stars, or be glamorous or be well dressed or be elegant, because they will be considered not to be good actresses. Vivien Leigh said this to me. She was making a movie with Warren Beatty, who I was going with at the time, engaged with actually. And she said: My dear, I was not taken seriously as an actress until I started to lose my looks. Vivien Leigh was very, very beautiful, and by this time she was in her early fifties. She was still beautiful.

Taki: She was a wonderful actress. I didnt realise she died when she was 53.

Joan: She died at 53?

Taki: Yeah, thats 30 years younger than I am! Can you imagine?

Taki: I had dinner with Conrad Black the other night. Im a big fan of Conrads. Except for Paul Johnson, Ive never met a man who has more knowledge about politics. And I said to Conrad: You gotta tell your friend Donald Trump hes gonna split the party. He said: Hes gonna win it all.

Joan: I write about Trump in my book. I call him a schmuck. When I first met him he was enchanting, because I was plugging a new perfume that I was promoting and he gave a party for me at Trump Tower. This was in the late 1980s, absolutely adorable. Shortly after that he called up one of the producers of Dynastyand said I wanna be in Dynasty and they said Im sorry but were cast. He said: But I am Dynasty.

Taki: Thats very funny.

Joan: Then he asked could he possibly be one of Alexiss lovers, and I said something rude about that. And then he riposted:

Taki: Ivana went out with my friend Roffredo Gaetani.

Joan: Oh my god, yes, she did!

Taki: Roffredo started going out with Ivana. (Now this is a true story and Im going to use only one bad word.) We were at a party together: Gianni Agnelli the most charismatic European, sitting like Im bored, smoking, cos in those days you could smoke myself, Alexandra, Roffredo, and Ivana. And Ivana is telling Gianni about boats and what size the perfect boat should be. I could see his lids drooping, so I said I had to stop this I said: Ivana, Im terribly sorry but Gianni had boats before you gave your first blowjob. And the whole table laughed and everybody got up and left. That was the only way to end it.

Joan: I would love to have met Agnelli. He liked taking off his clothes didnt he? Because theres a famous picture, I think it was by Slim Aarons, he kept jumping naked off a boat

Taki: Off a boat. He never wore a bathing suit, always a towel. But you know they dont have those kind of people any more.

Taki: Im not joking. Hollywood, when I was there, it was such a fabulous place. I was there three days before I was dismissed by you. And then I went back. And I remember Gregory Peck came with his wife, and I had become friends with Cecilia and the sons of course, Stephen. Anyway, they had Kirk Douglas who was in a very bad mood, he was dieting, and they had a girlfriend for me called Elizabeth Ashley

Joan: Oh, that was your girlfriend?

Taki: Well, she wasnt my girlfriend. But it was still glamorous. And this was 71

Joan: Yes, it was very glamorous. And they were part of that last gasp of the golden age. Greg, who I was lucky enough to work with in The Bravados

Taki: You dropped him like a hot potato for the fourth time!

Joan: I was under contract!

Taki: And you had a sore bottom. I read in the paper that you said: My bottom hurts because Im riding all day, doing the rehearsals. Ive seen the movie many times, heh heh heh.

Joan: I was terrified of horses. Gene Kelly told me: Dont ride horses, kid, they have stunt girls to do that, and youll put a stunt girl out of work. I said: They scare me to death. And he said just do the close-ups and have the guys do the legs. So when we were doing The Bravados, they had the handler in my close-ups hold the legs.

Taki: Thats very funny.

Joan: I think the last gasp of Hollywood glamour was when Marlon died. Did you know him?

Taki: I didnt.

Joan: He wasnt glamorous, but it was his aura.

Taki: His aura, bravo. Well said.

Joan: He was such a fantastic actor. And every-body adored him. I was very friendly with Paul Newman and Jimmy James Dean, and they just wanted to be like Marlon. Everybody you worked with did.

Taki: I never met him.

Joan: Who do you think is a great leading man today?

Taki: Liberace! I cant think of one.

Joan: But where are the Clark Gables and the Cary Grants? Well, we do have Hugh Grant, who I think is

Taki: Hes very good. But Clark Gable! There was a roguishness about him. In other words: If you dont take your clothes off Ill take them off for you! That type of manliness. Now, thats toxic masculinity.

Joan: Toxic masculinity! Compare James Bond now with Roger and Sean I like a man to be manly!

Taki: Because youre old-fashioned and youre pretty.

Joan: Brad Pitt is a very good actor and very good-looking. Have you seen Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?

Taki: Yes! I noticed something in that film, which nobody knows except for me. And it was completely right. I dont know Tarantino, but I knew Bruce Lee because Roman Polanski and I are buddies. Forty-two years ago he brought in some Chinese-looking guy for a fight, and I recognised him: Bruce Lee! I knew him through martial arts. And I bowed and we became friends, and Bruce Lee used to do a funny thing. He said: Go ahead, kick as hard as you want. As you do a jump kick, he would do a shield and just move it this much, and it would neutralise your kick. When you held it, when he attacked you, you had to move it forward so of course it blew you back. So this was a trick that martial artists do. All you have to do is move this much and even a punch to the nose will not knock you out. He did that in the film and nobody caught it. How the hell did Tarantino know that thats what Bruce Lee used to do?

Joan: Did you go to Roman and Sharons wedding?

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Hollywood, fist-fights and getting cancelled: Joan Collins and Taki in conversation - Spectator.co.uk