It’s Fast Becoming Official: “Two Plus Two Does Make Five!”

It’s Fast Becoming Official: “Two Plus Two Does Make Five!”

—November 1, 2016

Who would have ever thought that George Orwell’s dystopian “1984” vision of a government-mandated belief that “two plus two makes five” would be first borne by sexual deviance of a sort?

That is: “transgenderism.”

And it is “deviance,” all of you politically correct adherents poised to eviscerate me for the apparent abject insensitivity of my words.

Look up “deviance” in the dictionary, and you will see it defined as “deviating from the norm,” and/or “different from what is considered to be normal or morally correct.” And please note that, as so defined, transgenderism is “deviant” even if not speaking about the issue from a moral viewpoint.

But let’s push those semantics aside, as I am far more concerned about how the transgender movement is successfully pushing governments and universities to adopt the first officially sanctioned efforts to force the populace to believe that two plus two does in fact make five.

How so, you ask?

Well, for what appears to be the first-time ever with modern democracies, governments and schools across North America are starting to pass measures that mandate how you speak to transgendered folks by forcing the citizenry—under various penalties for non-compliance—to use the preferred pronouns as requested by individual transgendered people. Under the most simple construct this means identifying transgendered folks as either “he,” “she,” or “they,” as so requested. But the ever-expanding ideals of the transgender movement are not so simple, as it has created and adopted dozens of made-up pronouns, such as “xer,” “faer,” “aer,” “per,” “xem,” “hir,” “xe,” “xyr,” that have not yet even been accepted for usage by any lexicon.

It’s almost like governments and learning institutions are getting ahead of themselves. I mean, isn’t there something in western society’s legal canon that insists that any laws or regulations promulgated must utilize words that actually exist? Does this now mean that our governments and schools can pass laws and rules based on the “Klingon” language and culture?

But think beyond the language component of these measures and realize that they are designed to manipulate thought. You might be like most people and believe in the traditional binary gender system in which about 98 percent of people are either male or female, with another 1 percent of indeterminate gender due to biological factors beyond their control, and the other 1 percent just confused. Or perhaps you’re an adherent to this new “gender spectrum” way of thinking in which you believe the idea of “male” and “female” is a modern construct that wrongly “assigns” one’s gender at birth, and that there are 25, 50 or maybe even more than 100 different gender expressions.

If you want to believe in the latter, fill your boots! It’s not up to me to tell you what to believe. But when a government or institution of higher learning and critical thought tells me—under threat of penalty—that I have to use words describing something I don’t believe in, then we have a serious problem.

Hypothetically, you might think that you are a “firegender demiboy,” or some other gender expression of the 70 or so identified and named by the movement, and thus proclaim your preferred pronoun is “xir,” but I should not be forced to follow suit. If the government by mandate tells me I have to refer to you as “xir,” then it is forcing me to accept your belief, even though I believe you to be just a woman with serious psychological problems.

“Two plus two does not make five.”

285813_1But no, refusing to recognize transgenderism’s “two plus two makes five” is fast becoming North America’s first officially sanctioned Thoughtcrime, with the Thought Police poised to drag transgressors such as myself to the Ministry of Love. And actually, Thought Police prototypes, referred to euphemistically as “bias-response panels” and “bias-incident-reporting teams,” are already quite active on university and college campuses, where they subjectively monitor and sanction students and faculty for offensive “Hate Speech.” And now dozens of campuses are wholeheartedly adopting the transgender pronoun usage guidelines, and will consider the failure to abide by the guidelines as a form of Hate Speech.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s New York City is the first jurisdiction in America to adopt laws that require all employers, landlords, businesses and professionals to use whatever identity, name and pronoun requested by employees, tenants, customers or clients. Failure to abide by this directive can subject violators to legal sanctions based on the city’s amorphous gender-based harassment laws, which can apply civil penalties of up to $150,000 for standard violations, rising to $250,000 for violations considered “willful,” wanton,” or “malicious.”     

As written, legislation—Bill C-16—introduced by Canadian Premiere Justin Trudeau can reportedly be interpreted to mean that failure to use correct transgender pronouns is harassment and discrimination, and would thus be subject to “hate speech” satwo-plus-two-equals-fournction by the Canadian Government’s powerful Human Rights Commission, another Thought Police prototype.

To my knowledge no other group of people in modern democratic history has ever been accorded such deference in mandated language usage. And while transgendered folks are certainly entitled to civil rights protections afforded to all people, it should not come at the cost of limiting everyone else’s freedom of thought and speech.

In short, anyone should be allowed to believe that two plus two makes five, but no one should be forced to accept that belief.

YouTube Censorship Conspiracy Theory Joins the Cult of the Alt.-Right

YouTube Censorship Conspiracy Theory Joins the Cult of the Alt.-Right

—September 1, 2015

Well kids, the popular social media site YouTube seems to have joined the Leftish movement to stifle freedom of speech, what with today’s announcement that it would “demonetize” a wide range of videos if they are deemed unfriendly to advertising. While YouTube claims that the release of its “advertiser-friendly content guidelines” represents clarification of existing rules, YouTube video producers beg to differ. In fact, until the past week or so “demonetization” was a rarity and those supposed “existing” rules were essentially unknown to video producers. YouTube censors started clamping down over the past 10 days, with many popular YouTubers recently receiving official notification from the company that specific videos had been demonized—ahem, I mean “demonetized”—for breaking the rules.

And while the move by the company does not represent outright censorship, it will certainly prove stifling, as thousands—perhaps 10s of thousands—of video producers make money from YouTube based on the number of hits their videos receive. Consider PewDiePie, with 40 million subscribers and Forbes-reported earnings of $12 million from his YouTube videos that teach viewers how to play various video games. If YouTube were to apply its guidelines fairly and evenly then all of PewDiePie’s vids should be demonetized as they definitely break the (new) guidelines against profanity.

Perhaps needless to say, but I highly doubt that YouTube will shut down its number one star for breaking the rules. No, undoubtedly the rules are going to be subjectively applied and initial indications suggest that this is, in fact, the case. As of this writing, PewDiePie vids are up and running with swearing intact and advertising still very much in place. Other producers though, especially those whose subject matter seems to lean to the Right, and/or those slagging political correctness, appear to be getting hit with demonetization.

images-2Interestingly, I first became aware of YouTube’s demonetization of vids yesterday, prior to the release of the new guidelines, and immediately equated it with attempted censorship. At issue was a video originally released by Lauren Southern, a YouTuber with about 85,000 subscribers who definitely leans to the Right. The video—SJW Berates Lyft Driver—essentially shows a crazy social justice warrior berating a Lyft driver for displaying a bobblehead hula girl on his dashboard. The SJW goes on a profanity laced postal rant on the Lyft driver after he refuses to remove what she believes is an offensive icon of cultural appropriation. Other than the utterly obnoxious SJW, the only thing offensive about the video is her profanity. That video has been reposted by other prominent and not-so prominent producers, and all indications point to it being on the list of demonetized vids. 

Well, I don’t believe YouTube is that worried about the profanity given that plenty of other vids with profanity are still up and running with advertising, and would posit that the company is more concerned about how the video makes a SJW look bad (which it does). Thus, from what I can tell from this and other demonetized vids, YouTube seems to be especially interested in protecting the Left and demonizing the Right.

In fact, the language in the new guidelines would effectively demonetize something along the lines of at least 50 percent of all YouTube vids if applied in a fair and consistent manner, and subsequently ruin the company’s business model. As company officials can’t be that stupid, they’re obviously up to something else….

Can you spell: “selective censorship?” 

Naturally this is all speculation on my part, but consider that some of the guidelines are quite specific, yet thus far are not being applied in a fair and consistent manner, while other guidelines are completely subjective and open to interpretation by YouTube’s ministry of propaganda. “Inappropriate language, including harassment, swearing and vulgar language” are verboten, as are sexual humour, partial nudity, violence and promotion of drugs. But from everything I can see the company seems to be targeting certain YouTubers and completely ignoring similar transgressions committed by others.

“Harassment” can be considered especially subjective, as YouTube may decide that a video in opposition to Hillary constitutes “harassment,” while a similar one opposing Donald is fine. Likewise, the most disturbing subjective portion of the guidelines deems “[c]ontroversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown” as being subject to demonetization.

imgresWhat the fuck, Goebbels—I mean, YouTube—talk about giving yourself free reign to shut down anything you might not like….

With the official release of the guidelines, “#youtubeisoverparty” became the number one trending topic on Twitter today, with hundreds of new Tweets per minute decrying YouTube’s new censorship. As of this posting the topic was still generating about 60 Tweets per minute, and yet it is no longer trending at all (and number one Tweet, “#AppState,” is only generating about 25 tweets per minute). Of course, if you follow freedom of speech issues you are likely aware that Twitter seems to play with its “trending” algorithms so as to bury trends it doesn’t agree with. And that CNN (Clinton News Network) is hard pressed to ever release any negative news about Hillary. Ditto, MSNBC, New York Times, Washington Post, etc.

But of course maybe I’m just paranoid. You know, a conspiracy theorist, racist, misogynist, white supremacist, Islamaphobe, homophobe and every other …ist and …phobe connected to that nefarious and secretive Alt.-Right movement.

Yeah, that must be me. So be sure to check out all of my Alt.-Right vids on YouTube….

Oh, wait a minute, they’ve all been demonetized, and thus effectively pulled from circulation.

Free Speech Imperilled by Campus Political Correctness

Free Speech Imperilled by Campus Political Correctness

—April 19, 2015

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment is my favorite part of the U.S. Constitution. Not the amendment’s opening part. I mean, I believe in the free exercise of religion, but kind of hope no more religions are “established” as the ones already established cause enough trouble in the world. And that part about petitioning the government is kind of worthless, cause you can petition about your grievances until the cows come home, but good luck receiving any redress.

It’s the “freedom of speech, or of the press,” part of this amendment that stirs my soul, and the one I have actively supported since my rabble-rousing youth. It is the reason I rail against political correctness, which is so often used to furtively stifle free speech and oppress critical thinking.

To this day I believe the U.S. Supreme Court did the right thing by defending flag burning as freedom of expression. While I personally disagree with burning Old Glory, the fact that it is allowed as a form of expression is part of what makes America great.

I also find various garbage proclaimed as “art,” such as works by Robert Maplethorpe and others of his ilk, to be offensive; however, its public display, no matter how loathsome, is worthy of first amendment protection, too.

In my rabble-rousing youth, university and college campuses were bastions of free speech. On just about any given day you were likely to find all points of view expressed on any number of issues, not to mention plenty of public “bad taste” antics and other questionable displays by fraternal organizations and other social groups. All without any real fuss or overt animosity between competing factions or diametrically opposed interest groups. Students tended to discuss divisive issues, but for the most part did not try to suppress ideas and speech they did not agree with.

So I’ve got to ask: What the fuck happened?

How is it that in the span of roughly one generation, the ideal of free speech has been cast aside by most institutions of higher learning, with the apparent full support of a majority of professors and students?

Students aren’t taught about “freedom of speech,” because they are now being taught “freedom from speech.” Universities, colleges and many of their students seem to be focused on limiting just about any speech that might possibly cause offence, and stifling ideas that may run contrary to specific students’ beliefs. And with the emphasis on trigger warnings, safe spaces, microaggressions, speech codes, privilege of various sorts, and other popular politically correct taglines, “debate” is obviously now a foreign concept on campuses. Instead, students are being taught how to engage in “goodthink.”

Consider in just the past 10 days:

DePaul University enacted a ban on students chalking political messages on campus sidewalksTrump-chalk because of the “offensive, hurtful, and divisive” nature of pro-Donald Trump chalking.

The State University of New York at New Paltz abruptly canceled a planned campus debate between a notable left-wing media critic and a notable right-wing media critic on “How the Media Can Sway Votes and Win Elections.” Certainly sounds like a well-balanced debate on an important issue. Unfortunately, one of the debaters had “extreme” right wing views, according to complaints lodged by at least one professor and several unidentified students. Can’t have that, now can we. . . even if balanced out by another speaker on the opposite end of the political spectrum. 

Campus police forced University of Delaware students to censor a giant inflatable “free speech beach ball,” because someone had drawn a picture of a penis on the ball, along with the word “penis.” The students, who were promoting free speech values, were advised that campus speech codes and sexual harassment policies overrode any rights to free expression. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and Young Americans for Liberty both issued protests to university administrators advising them that the campus police were infringing upon the students’ First Amendment rights.

And how about this for complete irony:

About 700 professors and students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison signed letters complaining about racism from campus police and administrators, and demanding that a student arrested for spray-painting graffiti on scores of campus buildings be given clemency for his actions UW Madison Police Graffitiand be allowed to graduate on time this May. The letters allege that police engaged in racism by interrupting an Afro-American studies class when they arrested the student vandal, and that administrators are guilty of promoting racism because they were more interested in protecting campus buildings than students—such as the vandal—who are fighting for social change.

The student vandal’s fight for social change included graffiti on 11 different buildings with such messages as: “THE DEVIL IZ A WHITE MAN,” “DEATH TO PIGZ,” “WHITE SUPREMACY IZ A DISEASE,” AND “FUCK THE POLICE,” among others.

Unbelievably, both the chief of campus police and university chancellor have issued statements of apology over the incident, with both vowing to review police practices. I wouldn’t be surprised if the vandal ends up serving as the university’s valedictorian during the upcoming graduation ceremonies.

So, Hash It Out: Is the politically correct induced dissolution of the First Amendment on campuses turning American universities batshit crazy?

—Published April 19 in Hash It Out!

PC Potentates Declare Yoga “Culturally Insensitive”

PC Potentates Declare Yoga “Culturally Insensitive”

—November 27, 2015

For the latest in politically correct absurdity I bring you to my adopted land up here in the North, the land of ice, moose, beavers and Eskimos known as Canada. And there I go, already committing a politically incorrect faux pas by daring to refer to Inuits as “Eskimos.” Perhaps the provincial human rights commission needs to mount an investigation to determine whether this constitutes “hate speech,” but at the very least I should obviously be vilified by all.

Anyhow, the politically correct absurdity of the week award goes to the University of Ottawa’s Student Federation, which has shut down yoga classes at the university, deeming yoga’s cultural issues too controversial for the student body.

“While yoga is a really great idea and accessible and great for students, there are cultural issues of implication involved in the practice,” stated an email ordering a yoga class long-held at the university’s Center for Students with Disabilities to be shut down. “Yoga has been under a lot of controversy lately due to how it is being practiced,” added the email, noting that the cultures from which yoga emerged have “experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy [and] we need to be mindful of this and how we express ourselves while practicing yoga.”

The absurdity of this is almost beyond words, but stems from “cultural appropriation,” which is basically a politically correct activist concern that the Western (primarily “white”) world is (and has long been) appropriating the rest of the world’s culture without granting appropriate reverence and recompense in return.

PC Activists began ramping up their campaign against cultural appropriation many years ago, with protests against inappropriate sports team names—Redskins, Indians, Warriors, etc—marking their first shots in this regard. Inappropriate Halloween costumes came next on their list–In case you haven’t noticed (and how could you not, as Halloween seems to really piss the PC crowd off), in the past few years dressing up as an Indian, Chinaman, or any number of other “cultures” has been strictly forbidden by the potentates of PC.

More recently they’ve been tch-tching western celebrities who dare sport clothing that incorporates features that may come from a marginalized culture. Katy Perry was harangued for dressing like a geisha during an American Music Awards performance, and several celebrities have been harassed of late for sporting bindi designs. All indications suggest that the PC activists are getting ready to seriously ramp up their war against the cultural appropriation of fashion.

And now they’ve fired the first shot against yoga.

What’s next?

Well, from trolling the websites of noted PC activists I can tell you that martial arts, ethnic foods and rock and roll, among others, are being closely examined for their cultural appropriation, so stay tuned.

Oh, but don’t let me forget to mention the inherent hypocrisy of this latest PC movement (easy to forget as PC culture is rife with hypocrisy): “Multiculturalism” is a key mantra of the politically correct, and yet, if I utilize or display anything that may have evolved from another (perhaps “marginalized”) culture I am guilty of “cultural appropriation.”

But no need to worry about this possible inconvenience should you leanScreen Shot 2015-11-27 at 10.06.16 PM PC, because remember, if you’re PC you can self identify. Cultural appropriation only applies to “privileged” white folks such as myself–If you’re politically correct you will be applauded for your multiculturalism.

“Cultural Appropriation!” Add this to the list of politically correct activist catch phrases, such as “white privilege,” “social justice,” “hate speech,” “marginalized cultures,” “inclusiveness,” “trigger warnings,” “micro-aggression,” “safe spaces,” “gender neutrality,” “self identification,” etc…

. . . and be very afraid.

Better Put a Trigger Warning on This One!

Better Put a Trigger Warning on This One!

—November 16, 2015

You know what? I think it’s time to let loose with some hate speech….

Yeah, I’m going to spew out some vile, vituperative vitriol….

Are you ready? Here goes:

I despise you activist purveyors of political correctness with your demands for safe spaces, trigger warnings, speech codes, gender neutrality, social justice, and abject conformity to your views. I despise your ongoing calls for tolerance and inclusiveness, which really only apply to your politically correct brethren and the marginalized segments of society you purportedly protect from the rest of us. I despise your hypersensitive, holier-than-thou whining about micro-aggressions, and all the countless everyday words and actions that are so quickly described by you as “demeaning to” (insert marginalized victim of the day here).

I don’t despise you as people—honestly do not care if you are black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Muslim, female, gay, trans, obese, disabled, or whatever supposedly marginalized group you care to identify with—nor do I necessarily repudiate your specific causes.

But I despise your emerging ideology and methodologies. The former akin to Marxism, but instead of trying to extinguish class differences, it appears that you are trying to eliminate personality differences in your quest to homogenize the human race to conform to your ideals. The latter ironically fraught with divisiveness and intolerance.

And I especially despise how you seek to stifle freedom of speech and thought—how easily you are offended and ready to erupt in outrage until the offending subject matter is removed or censored. Your efforts in this regard are starting to reach a crescendo, as evidenced by the recent explosion of politically correct student activism on college campuses across America.

Take the University of Missouri in just the past few days:

Media studies and journalism professor Melissa Click physically tried to block the press from covering student demonstrations on the quad. During the altercation the professor called for “muscle” to help her remove an offending journalist.

Professor Melissa “I need some muscle over here” Click is a disgrace to the profession, and any  and all journalism credentials should be stripped from her forthwith.

Meanwhile the vice president of the school’s student association, Brenda Smith-Lezama, expressed her disdain of freedom of speech when she told MSNBC that “I personally am tired of hearing that first amendment rights protect students when they are creating a hostile and unsafe learning environment for myself and other students here.”

Really? How did this woman ever get into university? I mean, as an African-American minority student Ms. Smith-Lezama surely must realize that she would never be student association vice president, let alone even have been admitted to the university, were it not for the First Amendment rights that allowed her forebears to push for civil rights. 

And the campus police have entered the PC war, sending out a message on social media encouraging Missouri students to report any and all instances of hateful or hurtful speech, noting that while not against the law, the Office of Student Conduct can take disciplinary action.

So, if your feelings are hurt, call the police…. 

Over at Yale University, PC students are calling for the head of a professor who dared criticize school efforts to encourage students to wear politically correct costumes during Halloween. The professor suggested that students should not take offence when seeing insensitive Halloween costumes, but should instead be tolerant of them and debate why a particular costume might be offensive.

“Free speech and the ability to tolerate offence are the hallmarks of a free and open society,” the professor said.

Apparently not for the students at Yale….

And we’ve got speech codes and trigger warnings—all the rage across U.S. campuses. It appears that today’s college studentsTrigger Warning are so sensitive that just about any content offered in class that might be offensive or even mildly controversial needs to come with warnings so that students can opt out so that the material does not upset their delicate sensibilities.

What a great way to get out of classes, tests and reading….  

So, that’s it. That’s my hate speech. Put a trigger warning on it and call the PC police.

For more politically correct absurdity, please see my Aug. 28 Blog: Alabama Sorority Censored by Politically Correct Pressure.

Alabama Sorority Censored by Politically Correct Pressure

Alabama Sorority Censored by Politically Correct Pressure

—August 26, 2015

The potentates of political correctness have won another round in their battle to make the world all-inclusive and ensure that no one is ever offended. The University of Alabama’s Alpha Phi sorority this week removed a recruitment video from You Tube, bowing to political correct commentary that deemed the video highly offensive because of its lack of racial diversity, objectification of women, and emphasis on sorority fun rather than service. Prior to removal the video had received more than 700,000 views on You Tube.

Leading the charge in condemning the video was a “guest opinion” writer on AL.com named A.L. Bailey, a “writer, magazine copy editor, and online editor who lives in Hoover.” Bailey called the video a “parade of white girls and blonde hair dye, coordinated clothing, bikinis and daisy dukes, glitter and kisses, bouncing bodies, euphoric hand-holding and hugging, gratuitous booty shots, and matching aviator sunglasses. It’s all so racially and aesthetically homogeneous and forced, so hyper-feminine, so reductive and objectifying, so Stepford Wives; College Edition. It’s all so … unempowering.” Bailey further concluded that the sorority video “is doing more damage to women than presidential candidate Donald Trump.”

Bailey’s opinion piece spurred a flurry of negative news articles about the video–with “salacious” being the most widely used adjective to describe it–along with online commentary decrying the video for all of the appropriate politically correct reasons. Though now that the video has been removed, online commentary has swung in defence of the sorority and its video, and anger at the purveyors of political correctness.

Additionally, a new AL.com “guest opinion” writer, Lauren Hathaway, countered Bailey’s arguments by calling them superficial, as well as “mean and shallow,” among other things. Hathaway notes that the video might be “annoying,” but is not “offensive,” and encourages the girls of Alpha Phi to “keep embracing the glitter and kisses and ‘euphoric hand-holding and hugging’ ifalpha-phi-alabama that’s part of who you all are.” Hathaway further concludes that the video’s apparent ‘hyper-femininity” is not a threat to feminism, and points out that the girls of Alpha Phi are “clearly having a good time,” which is the “whole point” of the video.

While Ms. Hathaway has done an admirable job refuting the political correct arguments regarding the video’s alleged objectification of women,” the issue of racial diversity–or lack thereof–remains.

It is true, no black sorority sisters are seen in the video. Does this mean that the University of Alabama chapter of Alpha Phi is a bastion of Aryan racists?

Unclear, but we did examine some random videos promoting traditionally black sororities and couldn’t find a white face anywhere–can’t say we’ve ever heard any outcry about this lack of racial diversity.

So, is the relative lack of racial diversity in the university Greek system a crime? Does the U.S. Government need to call out the National Guard and enforce desegregation of fraternities and sororities nationwide? And at what point will each fraternity and sorority in the Greek system be deemed truly racially diverse?

Those with a politically correct bent are easily offended, so we’d better make sure these social institutions are representative and inclusive of everyone, racial or otherwise.

Thus, in Alpha Phi’s next video we’d better see at least eight African-Americans, three Mexicans, two Chinese, two Pakistanis, two Indians, one Slav, one Vietnamese, one Korean, one Japanese, one Tibetan, one American Indian, one Inuit, two Muslims, one Jew, one Hindu, one Buddhist, four lesbians and one transgendered person. The new video also needs to include at least three people with visible physical disabilities, and seven people who would be considered clinically obese.

While 100 percent of the Alpha Phi women portrayed in the objectionable, now-removed You Tube video would likely be considered physically beautiful, this attribute is objectifying and demeaning to those who may lack physical beauty characteristics or are otherwise unsure about their own physical attractiveness. Therefore, only 15 percent of those filmed in any new video, should be those who a majority of people would conclude are physically beautiful.

Oh, and in the interest of the politically correct goal of gender neutrality, Alpha Phi should no longer be be referred to as a sorority, and its population should include an equal proportion of males.

Finally, all new videos will strictly conform to the idea of the Greek system being a service organization, and no portrayals of fun or frivolity of any sort will be allowed, as fun and frivolity might be considered offensive to those with a more serious nature and outlook on life.

Welcome to the politically correct brave new world….

–Originally published in Hash It Out! on August 26, 2015