I worry that Elon Musk buying twitter might ruin this platform's reputation for friendly, good-natured and respectful exchanges of views.
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(((Christian JB))) 
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---Z@christianjbdev
Humanist & secular-liberal. Fan of narrow-mouthed whorl snail and the kฤkฤpล (fat NZ parrot).
Dublin, IrelandJoined March 2013
(((Christian JB))) ๐---Zโs Tweets
Vonnegut on "Howl", Ginsburg's 'I saw the best minds of our generation destroyed' poem.
Makes me laugh.
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Twitter, the site where everyone's happy, and nobody complains or gets mad.
Let's keep it that way, eh, Elon.
Pretty outrageous. Punishing an academic for participating in a hoax exposing crappy journals. Journals which are quite happy to publish made-up unverifiable nonsense.
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Portland State University has determined that @peterboghossian committed a โhuman subjectsโ ethics violation for his involvement in the Grievance Studies probe. Further charges of falsifying data are currently under review. youtu.be/thHO2btnWJA
When my doctor asks me if Iโve ever considered light exercise.
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Over my dead body, you medical fascists. twitter.com/DrLeanaWen/staโฆ
"On reflection, I would like to withdraw my name from the open letter supporting Isaac Newton and his 'theory of gravity'. I had no idea he was considered problematic, and I recognise that I still have a lot of work to do."
(i) POTUS says something racist, because he is a racist.
(ii) Which proves SJWs right, that America is a racist country.
(iii) Which shores up support for Trump, as everyone hates SJWs.
It's devilish really.
One of her falsely-accused victims served a 7 yr sentence cos of her lies, but sure, let's make this about how the system mistreats women.
Still think the Joker movie is harmless?
Two men were just arrested for smoking at a screening.
We tried to warn you, but you. wouldn't. listen.
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Two men have been arrested at a #Joker screening for smoking and causing a disturbance:
bit.ly/2IveXXM
I'm not an American, but I guess I don't understand why Biden wouldn't just choose a black woman, and then say she's a great candidate for the job, rather than announce: 'we are going to fill the post with a black woman'.
Journalists should stop treating the opinions of slightly stupid offended people on Twitter as newsworthy.
When you follow a single-issue tweeter:
Day 1: Wow, this is indeed an important issue, and I'm glad that someone knowledgable is tweeting about it.
Day 700: Jesus Christ, will you ever stop going on about those bloody penguins. I hope they all drown.
Anti SJW's who are willing to ally with illiberal authoritarians to fight the SJWs are going down a dark and dangerous road.
Obama: There's more to politics than lefty hashtag twitter.
Lefty Twitter: Let's make a hashtag to mock Obama. That will show him.
Really dislike this tactic in which it's argued that merely expressing a different (non-hateful) opinion on a genuinely complex topic is putting people's lives at risk.
Transgender people should be treated with respect and kindness, and men and women should be allowed to defy any gender norms.
But, this modern denial of all gender differences must still be resisted, because it will ultimately lead to suffering.
Have to say, it's interesting watching anti-SJWs adopt some of the worst practices of online SJW culture.
If you see the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral as one more opportunity to prosecute your various culture wars grievances, then, I dunno, maybe you should step away from the internet for a while?
#HillarysBodyDouble trending. Think I may have seriously underestimated human stupidity.
Can't imagine why young men are going over to Jordan Peterson, or worse, when they should be happy reading lectures explaining why masculinity is a toxin.
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About the boys: Tim Winton on how toxic masculinity is shackling men to misogyny trib.al/ch9QCs2
Referring to slavery as the โoriginal sinโ of America seems pretty reasonable to me, James. twitter.com/ConceptualJame
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I don't claim to understand what's going on in Israel / Gaza, but I'm pretty sure that blaming the Wonder Woman actress who just said she hopes the hostilities will end isn't the answer.
Absolutely infuriates me seeing getting flack for doing documentaries which went to extraordinary lengths to humanise people in the porn industry.
For me, this isn't even about porn. It's about whether we choose to humanise people or not.
I despise Trump. I think Trump is a xenophobe and is credibly a racist, but Trump supporter is *not* synonymous with support for white supremacy, and you canโt just shut out 40% of your countryโs views if you want to continue living in a democracy. twitter.com/elongreen/stat
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My read of it is this Harry Potter uses antisemitic goblins thing isn't about genuine concern over antisemitism. It's just people trying to get Rowling for political or ideological reasons.
Nasty piece. Guilt by association. Don't criticise any left-wing orthodoxy, because then some horrid right-wingers might agree with you.
theguardian.com/us-news/2018/m
Demonstrating youโre an independent thinker by effortlessly gliding from anti-vax posts to blaming the West for Ukraine.
I see Matthew McConaughey is the Twitter villain of the day, for being a centrist, which basically makes him right wing, which basically makes him far-right.
eu.usatoday.com/story/entertai
The right-wing edge lords who can never stop talking about how 'hard times creates strong men" but who can't bring themselves to support Ukranians, the bravest people on the planet, against a Russian invasion, just repulse me.
Liberalism isn't just about freedom of speech. It's also the rejection of cruelty as a tactic or punishment to be used against those who don't share our beliefs.
โBiden was carried to victory by minoritiesโ
Democracy doesnโt work that way! Everyone who voted for him played an equal moral role in his victory. Doesnโt matter if they were a disadvantaged minority, or a disgruntled white male conservative.
Postmodernists have got a very good point that we're all, individually, riddled with various biases. But, where they go wrong is that they fail to understand we have methods for overcoming these biases.
Oh get over yourself. twitter.com/lenkmho/status
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Honestly, good for her.
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Scarlett Johansson tells The Gentlewoman that actors shouldnโt have to carry larger political and social responsibilities:
โI donโt think actors have obligations to have a public role in society... the idea that youโre obligated to because youโre in the public eye is unfair.โ
Cancel culture doesnโt exist, weโre just holding someone accountable for defending someone whoโs been put on a bad-people list.
Jesus. Unbelievable. Hard to believe anyone could really believe this stuff.
Twitter has convinced me that PhD's mean nothing. So many lunatics on here with letters after their name.
Bill Maher spent the last four years absolutely savaging Trump, and he's still hated by half of Twitter for having Republicans on his show.
It's OK to be wary of illiberal elements on the social justice left, and it's OK to criticise the hell out of their claims.
But taking the red-pill and going paranoid-right, like James Lindsay and Maajid Nawaz have done, is not the answer.
Don't take the red pill!
Even if there is a broad consensus that X is a terrible or wicked idea, shutting down any discussion of X is to replace reason with authority, which is anti-scientific.
The UK and US have lots of problems, so what's the harm in overstating them? Well, as Steven Pinker and others have pointed out - if people truly believe that life is getting worse, then they'll be more likely to vote for extremists and opt for dangerous radical solutions.
I donโt want science to become more political. I want politics to become more scientific.
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Science has gotten more political, so scientists are looking for new ways to influence politics. bit.ly/2lBliFs
Weโre sorry to report that West Side Story is now problematic and โexhaustingโ and so should be left to die.
Yah, who cares if itโs considered an important and culturally significant landmark? Leonard Bernstein is, like, so last century.
Attacks on the 1619 project claims can seem a bit cruel, because, after all, donโt the projectโs authors have noble goals?
But not only were these claims presented as fact in the NYT, they are being taught to students, so they simply cannot be placed beyond criticism.
People who say "X was on TV again, which just goes to show that cancel culture doesn't exist", when what they really mean is, "I really wish cancel culture was more strongly enforced."
I realise this is a controversial opinion, but I mostly blame the Taliban.
Roald Dahl was an antisemite in later life, *and* he fought with extraordinary bravery in WWII, *and* he helped develop a treatment for alleviating symptoms of hydrocephalus, after his baby was hit by a taxi.
People are a complicated mix of good and bad.
I find these sorts of comments pretty callous. Even if *some* people survive their cancellations, the cancellations can be very traumatic and cruel, not to mention completely unjust.
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Very strange how being "canceled" seems, over and over, to be an excellent career move.
Out of 2000 ICU patients in France, 83% are overweight.
My position: I'm someone who thinks ultra-PC SocJus stuff is stupid and authoritarian, but who also thinks that Trump and the populist right are a direct threat to liberal values.
Like, I happen to think itโs a duty of public intellectuals to be able to distinguish between regular normal politicians and dangerous sociopaths who are obvious con men. And if they canโt reliably do that, then theyโre really not worthy of respect.
Iโm sorry, itโs not enough to believe that the beheading was despicable.
We also have to accept that Charlie Hebdo have a moral right to make fun of religion, even if some people will find it deeply offensive and hurtful.
And this is what all too many people no longer believe.
I despise Antifa, but a little bit hyperbolic to compare Portland leftist rioters to Kristallnacht, no?
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Kristallnacht 1938 vs. Portland 2018. When Antifa hosts a book burning party we'll know @MrAndyNgo
โDort, wo man Bรผcher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen": "Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people." โHeinrich Heine, 1820โ1821 play Almansor
Classic conspiracy theory mindset.
Lots of bad things happen for no apparent reason, or for complicated hard to understand reasons. Asking โwho profits from thisโ (the cui bono question) rarely gets at the truth and can lead to speculation of puppet masters pulling the strings.
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If something in the world doesn't make sense to you, ask these two questions:
1/ Who profits from this? (and who loses out)
2/ Who gains power from this? (and who loses it)
You'll usually find your answers.
A member of a minority tweeting 'white people are exhausting' is pretty unproductive, and yeah, it is stereotyping.
But, I do not think it's morally equivalent to far-right race hate.
Sorry.
I just refuse to believe that if 2/3 of the Coronavirus deaths were women that published feminists would think this an irrelevant statistic, not worth mentioning in their pieces about how Coronavirus is 'gendered'.
Me: I just think race-based speech codes are wrong. The colour of your skin should not determine the words you can use. Also, context and intent are important.
Others: OMG, why do you want to say the N-word so badly?
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Once again I feel compelled to post this great quote by Donald Symons:
I despair at progressives who lack the imagination to think that the censors will ever come for books they like.
Reviewers accusing Steven Pinker of focussing too much on graphs showing that more people are living longer healthier richer lives, instead of talking about how neoliberalism isn't giving our lives true meaning - should check their privilege.
I get tired by the constant charges of hypocrisy following every bad thing, but itโs not unreasonable to think that (i) MSM tends to be more tolerant of leftist rioters, and (Ii) US police tend to be more tolerant of rightist rioters.
I guess Iโm both very concerned about what I call โwoke illiberalismโ *and* wary that the right will use wokeness as a justification for authoritarianism.
My lungs are still not back to 100%. Health tip: donโt get this virus, if you can avoid it.
(1) I hope the police officers involved in the death of Floyd are charged with murder.
(2) Trump is a monster. Unconscionable that he should talk about having looters shot.
(3) I still think that the rioting and looting are inexcusable.
"We need to throw cats in people's faces"
Wait, that sounds a bit extreme. That doesn't sound like a good idea at all. I'm against it.
"No, you misunderstand. I'm using academic language, in which throwing cats in people's faces has a very specific meaning."
Dunking on people and piling-on because they're saying something you agree with. Seems like a good strategy.
twitter.com/RottenInDenmar
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Sounds like something a mobster from the Sopranos would say.
Bring back the human. Enough with the identity politics from both the left and the right in which people are as nothing more than the sum of their membership of various group, Each person is a complex universe unto themselves.
What the hell happened in just the last 10 years?
How did extreme wokeness on the left and the populist-nationalist right gain hold so quickly?
Guardian readers' editor seems to think there's a balance between freedom of expression vs respect for religion. Nope. You are free to respect religion all you want, but there can be no compromise on our freedom to criticise religion.
The romantic view of politics: All real change comes from radicals.
But, that's (i) conveniently ignoring all the dangers of radicalism, which has caused incredible suffering.
ii) Ignoring the fact that relatively boring incremental change has made life better for billions.
Being far-left means being able to make the most cruel remarks you can possibly think of, while still considering yourself on the side of angels.
I'd be so triggered if Trump supporters started sending me 100's of these.
twitter.com/mjaeckel/statu
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I'm sorry, but it's just not viable to have BAD WORD be part of popular culture and regular speech, and for it also to be a cancellable offensive when it's mentioned by white people.
Either it should never be said by anyone, or intent and context matter. Choose one.
I did not know that, but good for her.
twitter.com/RealDJCthulhu/
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Casting a non-disabled actor as the Elephant Man is putting real elephant-men out of work?
Yeah, I'm well aware of the constant whataboutism used by the right, but it's still shameful how many in the liberal media used a flagrant double standard to describe leftist protest violence.
Also dangerous.
Not a single word about the overwhelming majority of viewers who weren't offended.
theguardian.com/stage/2021/oct
Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and use of one hand, says agent
I'm all for criticising white identity politics, but the left is arguably making it worse by trying to turn 'whiteness' into a thing (to be denounced of course).
These are such incredibly dangerous concepts to play with.
SJW's are bad. Anti SJW's are bad. Anti-Anti SJW's are a bit annoying. Anti-Anti-Anti SJWs are wasting their time quite frankly. Anti-Anti-Anti-Anti SJWs is where all the smart kids hang out.
It honestly bothers me seeing the level of hatred for Bill Maher on here.
Maher's imperfect, and a bit of a loudmouth, but he does stand up for old school liberal values of free-speech and tolerating different viewpoints.
Painfully unfunny one-note comedy in my humble opinion.
Call me stupid, but I think that in cases where white people are not the ones committing the violence it actually doesnโt make a whole lot of sense to blame it on โwhite supremacyโ.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/
See, I have the exact opposite opinion on climate change. The more we consider it a scientific problem and the less we think of it as a social justice problem with heroes and villains the better.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/
I see Existential is taking Corbyn's loss well.
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Replying to @existentialcoms
The lesson from Jeremy Corbyn's defeat is that the corporate media needs to be dismantled, because they'd rather see fascists run the country than have to pay their interns a living wage or have their taxes go up 5%.
Democracy can't function without a democratically run media.
I don't actually doubt that religious people feel *genuine* pain when their religious beliefs are mocked. And yet, people outside of their religion are still under no obligation whatsoever to be respectful of their beliefs.
Wow, it's so weird that the same people who were scared of a pandemic that killed millions are now worried about the brutal invasion of Ukraine and Russian war-crimes.
It's just like Orwell predicted.
I admit I was skeptical that Trump had a case with his voter fraud claims. But that was until I saw Diamond and Silk were putting their reputations on the line to defend him.
Guardian column claims poverty of 4 billion people is due to colonialism and capitalist exploitation. Completely ignores the fact that poverty is the natural state of humankind, which has only just recently been alleviated by scientific & tech. progress.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/
I'm broadly against SJWism, but I'm also very wary of how anti-SJWism can become paranoia, and turn people's brains into mush.
Once again, NATO is a threat to Russia in the same way that an alarm system is a threat to burglars.
Why should Netflix's most activist employees dictate what programs the rest of us should be allowed to enjoy? Or dictate which subjects one of the best comedians in the world should be permitted to joke about?