#from israel that RESULTED in a deeply problematic group fighting back against them

[timeisacephalopod]

Admittedly I don't know much about the Israel Palestine war but I keep seeing news articles that refer to it as the Israel Hamas war and no it is not. After all Israel has done it gets to be referred to by it's country name and not "terrorists who kill babies and children at the speed of light" but Palestine gets reduced to Hamas?

It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth that the struggle of the Palestinian people keeps getting reduced to the existence of Hamas, but at no point does the ongoing state violence of Israel define its existence when by all means it should when my understanding is that the creation of Israel was stealing land from Palestinians. Why is Israel's violence ignored while Palestine is defined by the admittedly shit group that only arose out of decades of occupation and imperialism? Those two things are not the same and ignoring Israel's violence to act like Hamas came from nowhere just to hurt the poor Israeli government who acts like they've done nothing wrong is ridiculous to me.

[loudlytransparenttrash]

This Week Within Our Colleges: Part 5

A University of Chicago student organization was pressured into changing the topic for an upcoming debate because some considered it to be “colonialism apologia.” The debate, hosted by the elite school’s “Political Union,” was initially set to ask if “the British Empire was a force for good,” but student outcry merely over the title of the debate eventually resulted in the name-change. “What is wrong with you people?” one student wrote on the group’s Facebook page, with another questioning why “you motherfuckers needed plenty of critical messages to see that ‘was the British Empire a force for good’ is deeply problematic? How many white people are in this RSO?” The organization changed the question of the debate to whether Britain should be forced to “pay reparations to its former colonies,” and apologizing for the way it had initially framed the conversation.

A black University of Pennsylvania student recently declared that his semester at the Ivy League institution was “traumatic” because he had three white professors who refused to acknowledge their white privilege. “Last semester was honestly the worst semester I’ve had at Penn so far. And all because of one thing: the white professors I’ve had at Penn. It appears that the term ‘privilege’ does not apply to them. Nor do they care to learn what it is.” Student James Fisher wrote. "My professor wanted to protect the voices of the white students who benefit from black oppression, the oppression unfortunately continued. It even led to me mentally breaking down in the classroom. With different emotions going through my head from not only this class but from the Trump election, I did not want to step foot into another white space until I made sure that my mental health was restored. The truth is, you as a single person cannot make up for the horrific things that white people have done to us throughout human history. But that does not mean that you do not have the power to stop yourself from oppressing the students that you teach every day.

American University is blocking whites from a cafe designated as a ‘sanctuary’ for nonwhites. As reported in my earlier posts, after black student activists issued a demand list to American University, the administration caved in and agreed to obey. One of the demands was a ban on white students using a new student lounge for the rest of the spring semester. The activists said they would take over the space as their own “sanctuary” and also demanded that all nonwhite students received extensions. They also asked incoming President Sylvia Burwell, to show how she will enforce “no tolerance for anyone creating a hostile environment for students of color” and punish such people.

A shocking new video shows a Western Washington University student screaming for at least two-minutes straight after seeing a Donald Trump sign on campus. The unknown student reacted to a street preacher’s pro-Trump sign by spiraling into a bizarre frenzy, at some points even splattering paint on the ground. Whether it was an attempt at an artistic protest or not, the fact remains: the bitch is bonkers. 

The University of California, Irvine’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter once again disrupted and shut down a pro-Israel event, shouting “fuck you” at attendees. The SJP overtook a Students Supporting Israel event featuring Israeli veterans who are touring college campuses to share their firsthand experiences from on the ground. “You people are colonizers or occupiers and you should not be allowed on this fucking campus” they screamed and called Israelis “genocidal.” This is the same group that shut down a film-screening hosted by a Jewish student group on campus last year and as reported earlier, they have also been drinking cups of saltwater to show their solidarity with Palestine terrorists currently being detained in Israel. Nobody ever dares to question the vicious antisemitism inflicted by these students on campuses across the U.S and no one bats an eye when they refuse to condemn Hamas, because they are being funded by this terrorist organization who are hellbent on wiping out every last Jew. No one cares because they’re Muslim and saying anything would be Islamophobia. 

A University of Hawaii professor recently claimed that universities should “stop hiring white cis men” until “the problem goes away.” Mathematics professor Piper Harron never gets around to specifying which "problem" would be solved by culling cis white males from academia, but insists that "real solutions require women of color and trans women." Piper Harron suggests, members of the “white cis” demographic should, “as a first step,” resign from their “hiring committee, their curriculum committee, and make sure they’re replaced by a woman of color or trans person.” “Having white cis women run the world is no kind of solution either,” she declares, pointing to the fact 53 percent of white women voted for Donald Trump. “Stop hiring white cis men (except as needed to get/retain people who are not white cis men) until the problem goes away,” she instructs university officials, adding accusatorially that “if you think this is a bad or un-serious idea, your sexism/racism/transphobia is showing.”

Black professors congratulate graduates who heckled Ed. Secretary Betsy DeVos at commencement. Over 200 black professors have signed a “love letter” to the Bethune-Cookman University graduates who booed DeVos during her commencement speech at the school last week. As mentioned in the last post, one professor alleged DeVos is representative of “white power.” The letter reads: “The world watched you protest the speaker you never should have had. We cheered as we saw so many of you refuse to acquiesce in the face of threats. Your actions fit within a long tradition of Black people fighting back against those who attack our very lives with their anti-Black policies and anglo-normative practices.” 

At least DeVos got to talk even though she was still booed and heckled. Texas Southern University withdrew an invitation to Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas to address its graduating students. The university disinvited Cornyn because it wanted students to remember their commencement “positively for years to come,” and that couldn’t happen if a white conservative politician was their speaker. The petition to have Cornyn banned from talking cites his vote in favor of requiring photo ID in federal elections and against continuing federal funding for sanctuary cities who refuse to carry out the law against illegal immigrants. Oddly, it also cites Cornyn’s 2006 vote for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, at a time when same-sex marriage was far more popular with whites than blacks. Then-Sen. Barack Obama opposed same-sex marriage in 2006 as well, and didn’t officially change his position for another six years but hey, only white people can do bad things.

Minority students at the University of Michigan have expressed feeling intimidated by the interior wood paneling found throughout the historic Michigan Union building. Anna Wibbelman, former president of an organization that voices student concerns about university development, stated that “minority students felt marginalized by quiet, imposing masculine paneling” found throughout the 100-year-old building that is set to undergo a massive, $85.2 million renovation project.

A student group at the University of Washington held a teach-in Tuesday to promulgate the notion that America’s “food system is built on racism.” “It is a fact that today inmates, predominantly black Americans, harvest a lot of the food that we eat for less than $.50/hr,” the group explains. Let me get this straight, they want their rapists, pedophiles, wife beaters and murderers inside of prison, but once they’re there, they also want them to be paid and treated under the same conditions as law abiding citizens and if we don’t, it’s racism? 

A Bethel University student issued an apology for wearing a Chicago Blackhawks sweatshirt to class after he was told the clothing was “offensive and hurtful.” The controversy unfolded during a class called “Social Perspectives, Human Worth and Social Action,” which delves into themes of culture, power and oppression in America, according to its online description. Student Cody Albrecht, who is from Chicago, came to the class wearing his home team’s apparel, then offered to turn it inside out “after becoming aware of the unease in his classroom because of his sweatshirt.” A week after he wore the sports apparel and after a “reconciliation” with the head of the Social Work department, his teacher and the whole class, Albrecht issued a formal apology.

Black students at the University of California, Los Angeles are demanding $40 million and their own “safe spaces” on campus as compensation for racially insensitive incidents. “Black students at UCLA are consistently made the targets of racist attacks by fellow students, faculty, and administration,” the Afrikan Student Union (ASU) begins. The first item on the list calls for “a physical location on campus to house the Afrikan Student Union Projects,” which would include “meeting/gathering/safe spaces” and be staffed by a director and an office manager who would be responsible for distributing funds allocated to the ASU. In addition, the ASU ultimatum demands a $40 million “endowment” to fund “a comprehensive effort to address the underrepresentation of African-American students, faculty, and staff at our university,” adding that the endowment should also provide financial aid to “dismissed black students.” The list goes on to ask that UCLA “deliver an anti-discrimination policy that assuages discriminatory and offensive behavior,” specifically “culturally insensitive” behavior, in conjunction with implementing mandatory “Cultural Awareness training” for all incoming students, faculty and staff members, and campus police officers. Finally, the ASU is insisting that UCLA provide “guaranteed housing for black students for 4 years, including on- and off-campus housing,” arguing that securing housing is especially difficult for black students due to factors such as “low socio-economic status and difficulties remaining financially stable amidst the rising living costs in Westwood.”

[theliterateape]

Cancellation is Now an Equal Opportunity Equation

by Don Hall

Holy Shit.

The hysteria. The hand-wringing. The hair-shirt rending.

Everyone is now in danger. Not from police violence (although that certainly affects approximately two percent of the American population). Not from mass shootings (likewise affecting slightly less than one percent in 2021). Not even from mosquitos (which annually kill about five percent of the population).

Everyone is now in danger...of cancellation.

Here is the distinction that saves the term cancellation from uselessness and hypocrisy: Cancellation is not criticism; cancellation is the absence of criticism. It is the replacement of criticism with a summary punishment. The punishment ranges in seriousness and could include withdrawal of a job or just an invitation, but the salient point is that it is meted out instantly and without deliberation, often as the result of a mob action. When this switcheroo becomes a habit, the normal way of doing things, we can call that “cancel culture,” and it is indeed a sign of intellectual and institutional rot. The failure to distinguish cancellation from criticism is the source of the humor in V. S. Naipaul’s quip after the Ayatollah Khomeini dispatched assassins to kill Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses. Naipaul called Khomeini’s fatwa “a most extreme form of literary criticism.”

SOURCE

Gina Carano—Fired by Disney after posting on social media that being a Republican in 2021 was similar to being Jewish during Nazi Germany. Her Hollywood agent dropped her, and Hasbro scrapped her Star Wars action figure.

Emily Wilder—The AP Reporter with pro-Palestine inclinations was fired from the AP Arizona beat over tweets during the latest version of the Middle East "let's fight to the death for some fictionalized holy ground" skirmish.

Antonio Garcia Martinez—Hired by Apple. Company knew all about his tech memoir. 2,000 out 250,000 Apple employees signed a petition claiming his book made them feel “unsafe”. He was fired three weeks later.

Al Franken—Probably the earliest example of the right mobbing up to cancel a sitting Senator with massive Progressive street cred, Franken was taken down by the very people he was aggressively working for.

The Right was always a fan of cancellation in whatever forms they could create and use. The Right has been cancelling and mobbing people and companies for as long as I can remember—public shame is a chapter heading in the How to Be a Republican playbook for generations. The Left is now wielding it with a vengeance, citing the bold statement "When they go low, we do exactly what they do because it works". 

Everyone is a victim. Everyone is being held accountable by the neighborhood watch, various Karens, and those cancelled are left with no jobs, soiled reputations, and a bitter anger at the moralistic pinings of hypocrites have one other thing in common: their full story is never explored because to look more deeply would reveal the ugly high school mechanations of the practice as a whole.

If asked, most people in and around Chicago would parrot one of my close friend's answers when asked why I moved to the desert: "He burned too many bridges." Others, including my Literate ApeCast co-host, will skate around it but confirm that I was, indeed, cancelled by an online storyteller mob of about fifty. Due to the very nature of cancellation, it doesn't matter if any of this is true.

Does it matter that the storytelling behemoth organization didn't fire me but asked me to take a five-month break so things could die down and I refused? Does it matter that the situation at the public radio station had been strained a full year before the caustic, opportunistic chihuahua went lunatic? Does it matter that Dana and I had been talking about our "been here, done that, and fuck, I'm tired of the cold" yearning to leave Chicago for at least a solid six months before the ugly reputation burning began?

Nope.

See, that's not in the nature of the thing. "...the salient point is that it is meted out instantly and without deliberation, often as the result of a mob action." Once the mob is satisfied, it moves on to the next shiny object like the seagulls in Finding Nemo.

This was [throat clear] problematic when the Far Left decided it was a grand new weapon against the phantom enemies of the lived experience narrative but the Far Right has caught up. Both sides of this ideological culture war are cancelling people like a Whack-a-Mole game. The argument that this is simply about holding people accountable is a leaky boat with no oars.

This is about revenge and power. Revenge in the case of individuals publicly called out by other individuals; power in the case of groups going after institutions and corporations. Further, it is not up to individuals to effectively reign it in—this is entirely up to the institutions and corporate boards allowing the cancelling its teeth.

In the 90s, I ran a theater company. Started as a sketch comedy group, fell apart, and my response was to apply and secure nonprofit corporation status. I was the Executive Director on paper, the only Producer in reality. I was also a director, a performer, the chief marketer, the public relations guy, and the janitor. When there were personnel issues, I was the HR department.

At one point, three of the women in the company came to me and threatened to leave if a single individual, whom they accused of being a sexual predator, was allowed to stay. On the most microscopic of levels, this was a cancelling. Small group demanding the ouster of an individual on moral grounds or else.

I took their accusations seriously. I listened. No specifics of behavior that would be considered illegal or without the possibility of misunderstanding were presented. The dude was creepy. He hugged ladies a tad too long for comfort. He gave unsolicited back rubs. He said things to the women that they felt were inappropriate. He complimented them too much.

"Look," I told them. "I'm not one to negotiate with demands. Ultimatums are a bad faith approach so I won't cave to yours. That said, I'd like you to give me a chance to talk to him and try to instruct him on his behavior. If it doesn't improve in a month, I'll dump him."

They didn't like it, they bitched some more, but they agreed. I spoke with him, allowed him to explain himself, gave him the new rules governing his behavior, and he towed that line. I'd check in with the women every six weeks or so (I marked a reminder on my calendar) and each time for nearly a year, they indicated that he had changed his ways and that it was good.

When AP is confronted by a bunch of FOX News retards calling for Emily Wilder to be fired for her anti-Israel politicking? "Thanks for your concern. We'll take a look into it and if we deem it necessary to discuss the matter with our employee, we'll take care of it. If that's unacceptable, don't read our award-winning shit, fuck-os."

When Disney gets hit with people completely apoplectic about one of their Star Wars actors comparing her existence with Holocaust survivors? "Thanks for your concerns. While a completely stupid thing to tweet as Holocaust survivors rarely got million-dollar contracts to play a space ranger, we think we'll just yell at her some for being a public dipshit and leave it at that."

Being unpopular is not fatal (unless you were born after 1995). Mega-corporations losing the support of a slice of their consuming public because they believe they wield some magical Twitter power that Coca Cola or the NFL can't outspend by trillions of dollars isn't really worth the time it takes to fire someone.

Does this mean Matt Lauer shouldn't have been fired? No, the dude had a secret lock on his office door to trap chicks in there! Kevin Spacey? Yo, buyer beware. The Pharma Boy? Fuck that guy.

It means that, Christ, everyone has a beef and everyone is looking for power and most people haven't crossed the line from harmless offense to Third Reich Activity Club. Dispassionately understanding the difference between dumping toxic waste in the river that poisons a town and culturally appropriating yoga seems pretty obvious but what do I know? I'm an adult who refuses to play the game set forth.

The best outcome for this whole new (old, really old, been going on this way for centuries) cancellation thing is that the most histrionic on both sides of Crazy Town manage to cancel each other.