Too much of history is hear-story,
the version of individuals
who were not there,
about people they never met
and events they did not witness,
quoting in support others,
like them, recreating the past
at safe distances from strife,
far from the details
of what took place,
distracted by words
buzzing around like flies
in their decorated brains.
How I know is I once read
a much-praised history
of events I witnessed.
Lilija Valis' poetry is featured in her book, "Freedom on the Fault Line".More >>
Short story: Mr. Tosh tells some "rape jokes". A woman heckles him by shouting that "rape jokes aren't funny". Mr. Tosh responds by hypothesizing on the hilarity of the heckler being gang-raped in front of the crowd.
It's the same kind of thing that we saw with Michael Richards' meltdown. In one case, a comedian threatens and abuses black hecklers. In another case, a comedian threatens and abuses a female heckler. Actually, I think the case could be made that the Tosh incident is worse -- how many tweeps and bloggers came to Richards' defense by suggesting that lynching black people was totally normal, totally not-a-big-deal comedy behavior? That Richards had the natural "comedy-given right" to offend?
While we're talking about what's funny and offensive, ever hear the one about the hunter and the bear? It ends with...More >>
Free Dominion, which bills itself as the voice of Principled Conservatism, has been dragged into a Kafka-esque legal donnybrook that could have far-reaching consequences for Internet users, bloggers and new media publishers across Canada. Whether you're from the left, right, or smack dab in the center, this issue affects you.
On June 14, 2012 the Ontario Court of Appeals issued a ruling in blogger John Baglow's appeal of Superior Court of Ontario Justice Peter Annis’ widely-lauded dismissal of Baglow’s defamation suit against a fellow internet political debater, Roger Smith, and the operators of the Free Dominion website, Mark and Connie Fournier. The appeals court did not overturn Justice Annis’ dismissal because he erred in finding that the comment was not defamatory, but because the case raised a number of public interest and legal issues that the higher court felt should be dealt with by having a full trial.
Oddly, although going through a full trial will be an expensive and time consuming process for us, we are pleased with their finding. We see it as a golden opportunity to make important fundamental law that will
VANCOUVER - Remembering the 1997 Blanche Royal Commission on the Status of Translucent-Canadians, Anemia Wan grows pale with anger. “That report solved nothing,” says the White Rock-based albinism activist, a past president of Albinos From Nanaimo: “It was a total whitewash.”
Over a bowl of White Spot chowder, Wan is reflecting on her three decades’ advocacy for the Canadian unpigmented. “In this supposedly colour-blind society,” she notes, “we albinos are a nearly-invisible minority.”
Wan, 38, says the controversial Earl’s human-rights case, wherein the restaurant chain stands accused of selling albino-themed food, proves that pro-pallidness campaigners can’t give up. “What are we supposed to do,” she asks, “just stand on equality’s battlefield, waving some kind of defeat flag? We albinos refuse to be the missing pieces of the cultural mosaic.”
Wan’s own life suggests that, if it’s hard to be white in rainbow Canada, it’s harder to be whiter. Raised in the village of Snowball, Ontario, of mixed African-Asian and Algonquin-Scots heritage, she remembers the childhood embarassment of attending weekend ECHL hockey games, carrying her prescription parasol. The home team’s name? The Whiteout.
“Their goalie was black, and so were their home uniforms,”...More >>
The Propagandist has been blazing a trail for thinking conservatives and brass-knuckles socialists. Our online magazine of political punditry from around the world has attracted plenty of friends -- but also, saboteurs and fifth columnists sometimes masquerading as allies.
I refer here to copyright violators who scrape our website so they can paste our articles into their own websites.
I know. This isn't as exciting as going after nefarious dictators and ruthless terrorists, but it's kind of getting out of hand.
Now, don't get all huffy. I'm not referring to legitimate fans and friends who share our content the right way. You're cool. We love you. So chill.
Linking to us through Twitter and Facebook? Awesome. Linking to us in a blog where you've used a short excerpt of about two paragraphs or so of a long article, where you've got a new introduction and title for your own original content? Give yourself a pat on the back. That's how the professionals do it. You rock our world.
Copyright violators suck
Grabbing an entire article and pasting it into your own website ain't cool. It doesn't just devalue the original content we're putting out; it...More >>
Let's see... Buying into conspiracies of the Illuminati. Misunderstanding the most basic elements of the Catholic religion despite attending a Catholic school (bizarrely, in a hijab -- just try the same kind of trick in a Muslim private school and feel the tolerance). Believing that the 9/11 attacks were the only example of terrorism by Islamists before or since -- except that it was fake, so that doesn't count, either. Believing the Koran is the literal word of God.
Here's a good bit. In talking up the importance of researching religions, particuarly Islam (presumably, so we can submit to the true flying spaghetti monster), she says: "Go learn something! Go see! Like, you only live once. Do you want to be living in the wrong religion, so you're following the wrong religion? No! Go see who real God is! For you guys it might be Jesus, it might be, um, Baba... whatever the Hindu people believe -- the elephant head..."
Thanks for providing an example of rigorous study in comparative religion for us to follow. You've really done you're homework.
But if you don't mind, I prefer to research things that are not totally...More >>
So much for Republican family values. American right-wing talkshow host Rush Limbaugh has tried to ruin the reputation of a brave woman by calling her a slut and prostitute, and has now suggested that she produce amateur porn so he can watch it. Seriously.More >>
In breaking news, the ancestor of a scientist and bestselling author owned slaves in 1744.
Yes, seriously. This is the impetus behind the hatchet job by the Telegraph against Richard Dawkins. Butterflies and Wheels has a good roundup of satirical Twitter responses. Indeed, checking out the Twitter stream linking to the Telegraph article, it's clear that the vast majority of people who checked on the story see right through the pathetic attack by Adam Lusher.
At the Rally for Free Expression, journalist Nick Cohen and scientist Richard Dawkins take on the gutless accomodation of theocratic fascism in the UK and abroad. The tide appears to be turning.
Western law enforcement agencies are now doing the work of religious fanatics who spit on international definitions of human rights. When the Saudis chop Hamza Kashgari's head off, heads should also roll at Interpol.More >>
