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The tyranny of egalitarianism
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Leon



Joined: 31 May 2010

PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 6:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fox wrote:
Leon wrote:
I think it's valid to make points about women in magazines being photoshopped or other such things ...


Is it? Everyone knows (or at least should know) that such photoshopping occurs, so it seems to me that a woman feeling insecure because she's not as attractive as a model on the cover of Maxim or some such is like me being insecure because I'm not a model of male excellence in the model of Diomedes or the like. I'm not insecure about that though, so why should a woman be insecure about those pictures? Getting upset because you don't live up to a completely unreal standard manufactured by artists is intrinsically dysfunctional. Is, "The average woman is so completely dysfunctional that she can't handle exposure to unreal standards without feeling terrible," really a valid point?


Well, I guess I should have specified that I thought it was valid to make the point that it would affect kids, young teenagers, whatever, that wouldn't know that such photoshopping occurs and that in some cases it is specifically marketed to that demographic, or that it was a flaw in our society, or whatever. I'm not so sympathetic on an individual basis that it hurts grown women's feelings, or that we should try to create acceptance for unhealthy body/lifestyles to preserve someones feelings.
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Fox



Joined: 04 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Germany Raids Homes of 36 People Accused of Hateful Postings Over Social Media.

Quote:
BERLIN — In a coordinated campaign across 14 states, the German police on Tuesday raided the homes of 36 people accused of hateful postings over social media, including threats, coercion and incitement to racism.

Most of the raids concerned politically motivated right-wing incitement, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office, whose officers conducted home searches and interrogations. But the raids also targeted two people accused of left-wing extremist content, as well as one person accused of making threats or harassment based on someone’s sexual orientation.

“The still high incidence of punishable hate posting shows a need for police action,” Holger Münch, president of the Federal Criminal Police Office, said in a statement. “Our free society must not allow a climate of fear, threat, criminal violence and violence either on the street or on the internet.”

The raids come as Germans are debating the draft of a new social media law aimed at cracking down on hate speech, a measure that an array of experts said was unconstitutional at a parliamentary hearing on Monday.

The measure, championed by Justice Minister Heiko Maas for passage this month, would fine Facebook, Twitter and other outlets up to $53 million (50 million euros) if they failed to remove hate speech and other forms of illegal content.

Under German law, social media users are subject to a range of punishments for posting illegal material, including a prison sentence of up to five years for inciting racial hatred.

Under the draft statute, networks must offer a readily available complaint process for posts that may amount to threats, hate speech, defamation, or incitement to commit a crime, among other offenses.

Social media outlets would have 24 hours to delete “obviously criminal content” and a week to decide on more ambiguous cases. The law, approved by Germany’s cabinet in April, would be enforced with fines of up to $53 million.

According to a recent government study, Facebook deleted just 39 percent of illegal hate speech within 24 hours in January and February, despite signing a code of conduct in 2015 pledging to meet this standard. Twitter deleted just 1 percent.

...


Imagine the police raiding your home because your teenager posted a thought-crime on Twitter. I suppose that's just the price of life in Holger Münch's "free society." After all, you can't be "free" if you can actually express your thoughts without censorship backed by police action. And going forward, it looks like the German government -- and the Germans are certainly not alone in this -- want to expand their regime of thought-crime persecution, even in the face of being informed of the unconstitutionality of such expansions.

When "hate speech" laws were put on the books in various countries, a common response I noticed when issue was taken with those laws was, "No one is being arrested and tried under these laws, so they're no big deal." So much for that. Instead, I expect the tactic now would be to examine individual cases and find grounds for rationalizing them, as if police raiding your home over some "offensive" posts on social media is reasonable in the first place, moving the goal posts further away in the bargain.
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Kuros



Joined: 27 Apr 2004

PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 1:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Civil law systems are different. It's hard to imagine this happening in America ... or rather, it's hard to imagine it happening for very long without any sort of reaction from the legal checks.

Continental conceptions of free speech are bizarre. There is definitely a bit of content regulation. Other countries may follow Germany, but they will likely all be ones with civil law systems.
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Fox



Joined: 04 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2017 1:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Word Used By 'Pimp' in Improv Sketch Gets Him Banned From Community College.

Quote:
Having been barred from Moraine Valley Community College for using an "unacceptable word" while playing the role of a pimp in an improvisational sketch class, Joshua Zale is suing his school, claiming his free speech and due process rights were violated.

Remarkably, given the way he alleges he was treated, Zale, of Oak Lawn, Illinois, is asking a judge to clear the way for him to register again for classes at Moraine Valley, outside of Chicago. And for monetary damages.

No one, including Zale in the lawsuit he filed on his own behalf in Cook County Circuit Court, has disclosed what the unacceptable word was. But Zale uttered it when asked by his instructor, Craig Rosen, to assume the role of a pimp asking for money from another student, playing the role of a sex worker.

Rosen harshly reprimanded Zale, who on April 20 met privately with Rosen to ask why he had been chastised for using a word in keeping with the role Rosen asked him to play, according to the suit. Zale then met with Rosen and Lisa Kelsay, an assistant dean, who later accused Zale of violating Title IX and school conduct policies for mistreating Kelsay "as a woman."

School administrators demanded Zale write a "what I learned from this incident" essay, including reflection on the college's core values, as punishment, or they would put a hold on his student account and prevent him from registering for classes.

Not only did Zale refuse to write the infantilizing essay, but he refused to attend a subsequent disciplinary hearing, contending the school refused to allow him to confront his accusers. Administrators responded by blocking his registration, claiming he violated the student conduct code on "physical/verbal abuse or harassment."

Neither the professor nor the administrators mentioned in the lawsuit would comment on the case, and a spokesperson said the college does not comment on pending litigation.

...

Zale is rightly claiming the school violated his procedural due process rights. His punishment was "arbitrary and capricious," the charges levied against him were "wholly conclusory, containing no factual statements whatsoever," and he was not informed of these charges with adequate notice.

To make matters worse, the proposed hearing had no real semblance of impartiality, because it would have been conducted by one of the administrators who initially charged Zale with misconduct. No wonder Zale chose to opt out.

This case shows just how far administrators are willing to go to suppress student speech. If improv-humor-gone-awry results in arbitrary punishments, what will administrators try to squelch next? And what good is an education if you can't creatively challenge the world around you––and with it, the bounds of socially acceptable language?


Doesn't Joshua Zale realize that Title IX requires all pimps on campus to use respectful, gender-neutral language when addressing their valued employees? "No more fun of any kind!"
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