The Year Reheated

In which we marvel at the mental contortions of our self-imagined betters.

The year began on a highbrow note as the University of Denver’s Professor Ryan Evely Gildersleeve informed the world that laziness is a “a political stance,” a way to “combat the neoliberal condition,” and a “tool for contributing to social justice.” Half-arsed incompetence is, we were assured, both radical and empowering. The professor also shared his belief that plastic is sentient. Inanimate objects also troubled Dr Jane Bone, a senior lecturer at Monash University, Melbourne, who specialises in “feminist post-structural perspectives” and the political implications of problematic furniture. Dr Bone’s research involves quite a lot of “embodied knowing,” i.e., visiting IKEA and sitting on chairs. Her work, she revealed, is “not necessarily logical.” Further feminist insights came via Phoebe Patey-Ferguson, whose feminist fight club is “a mode of resistance,” because the spectacle of unhappy ladies body-slamming each other and breaking each other’s ribs is an obvious way to “destroy the Conservative government” and “bring down the patriarchy.”

In February, we turned our attention to the world of aesthetics, where performance artist Sandrine Schaefer presented her buttocks to the world then waited for applause. We also learned that space exploration is all about “abuse” and “male entitlement,” thanks to Women’s Studies educator Marcie Bianco. Ms Bianco, who claims that sending spacecraft to Mars is akin to grabbing ladies’ genitals, teaches “social justice courses” at Rutgers University and John Jay College.

The ability of Jordan Peterson to trigger fits of theatrical hysteria among leftwing students was a highlight of March, when an attempt to speak at Queen’s University, Ontario, resulted in memorable and telling scenes, as students unleashed their inner screeching id. Also memorable, though for very different reasons, was this short, rather lovely film by Alex Gorosh and Wylie Overstreet. And at Simmons College, where recreational indignation is very much in fashion, and annual tuition is a mere $40,000, we learned that responding to a sneeze with the words “bless you” is problematic and oppressive, and that compiling lists of things that are problematic and oppressive, and therefore to be avoided, is itself problematic and oppressive.

In April, a radical socialist student group at Indiana University-Bloomington disbanded in fatigue, after protesting against “patriarchy,” “whiteness,” and the cost of campus policing made necessary by their own threats and acts of vandalism. The students were also upset that the university was enabling tomorrow’s “small business owners.” And the Guardian raised a question pressing heavily on minds everywhere, asking, “Can pot make you a better parent?”

May brought us more from the Guardian, when the paper championed Teen Vogue as the future of woke publishing. Sales immediately plummeted. We also encountered Professor Melina Abdullah, Chair of Pan-African Studies at Cal State LA., according to whom, calling the police is a racist and privileged act if the criminal in question happens to be black. Curiously, being granted a license to commit crime with impunity and no fear of police involvement, on account of being black, is in no way racist or a sign of privilege. The month also featured a compendium of inadvertent comedy in the form of articles by Laurie Penny; and in the art world, Sandrine Schaefer once again erupted with creativity.

In June, Rutgers history professor James Livingston, a contributor to Marxist Perspectives and Socialist Revolution, conveyed to the world his vehement hatred of white people, especially white children. We also learned that “dismantling the white supremacist hetero-patriarchy” is the first and foremost duty of small Portland bakeries, where a tardy customer’s melanin levels trump everyone else’s opening hours. And via the pages of Everyday Feminism, we bathed in the ectoplasmic knowledge of Ms Ixty Quintanilla, whose “resistance” to the trauma of a Donald Trump presidency entails “burning herbs mindfully” and pushing against trees.

The joys of “social justice” surfaced again in July at Midwestern University, where Hispanic students refused to pretend that they were oppressed by “white privilege,” and were instantly denounced as racist by sociology professor Maria Isabel Ayala. We also learned, via Everyday Feminism contributor Sophia Stevens, that minority employees shouldn’t have to do their jobs or be in any way reliable, on account of their fascinating brownness. Apparently, white employers should only enquire politely whether any brownish employees might be willing to consider doing whatever it is they’re being paid to do, and then accept ‘no’ as an answer. It’s the intersectional way. Meanwhile, in the sphere of woke culture, conceptual artist Nika López established “an intimate relationship” with an indoor pile of dirt.

August revealed more neurotic racial fixation at Birmingham University, where no evidence of prejudice against minorities has been found and where a taxpayer-funded scheme to unearth “unconscious bias” is nonetheless underway, with the goal of making white staff “feel uncomfortable” about their presumed, albeit invisible, racial animus. This presumption of collective guilt was aired even more vividly in the pages of the New York Times, where readers of pallor were reminded that any comforts they might have, however they were arrived at, are “unearned, the product of corrupt systems,” for which “every white person should be ashamed.” Having white skin, it seems, “marks you, inescapably, as an oppressor.”

Somewhat unobvious health advice arrived in September, care of the Guardian, where we were informed that diabetes and incontinence, when caused by obesity, can be referred to as “body positivity.” We were also reminded that taking selfies from above, to minimise double chins, is a form of “fatphobia” and inexcusably oppressive. Days later, the Guardian’s star columnist Zoe Williams warned of the dangers of jogging – specifically, that exercise “makes you rightwing.” And at Stanford University, Professor John Rickford noted that “Black Vernacular English” is widely viewed as less “trustworthy, intelligent and well-educated” than standard grammatical English, and should therefore be encouraged. Presumably on grounds that black graduates should give employers the impression that no actual education had in fact taken place.

In October, we learned that in woke academia citing dog-humping incidents as evidence of “rape culture” constitutes “very good work” and “excellent scholarship.” Philosophy professor George Yancy saddened readers of the New York Times with a lengthy and tearful apology for his own heterosexuality. Apparently, being aroused by women, while not quite rape in itself, is nonetheless, as it were, rape-adjacent and constitutes “a violent, pathetic and problematic masculinity.” Meanwhile, radical ladies at the University of Southern California attempted to topple the patriarchy by gorging on doughnuts and thick, liquid pudding.

November gave us another chance to marvel at the contents of the Guardian, where columnist Caspar Salmon was bewildered to discover that the “sexiest men alive,” as voted for by readers of People magazine, depart somewhat from his own ephebophile appetites. Elsewhere, in the pages of National Geographic, Nadia Drake and Lucianne Walkowicz declared a need for politically-corrected space exploration, from which the words frontier, colony and unmanned must be purged, thereby sparing astronauts from any risk of moral contamination. And the reliably left-leaning New York magazine invited us to sympathise with leftist women who blame their divorces, estrangements and sessions with psychiatrists on the continued existence of Donald Trump.

In December, footage emerged of Seattle’s far-left community in action, with masked ‘activists’ indulging in gleeful mob bullying and issuing elaborate, fairly convincing death threats, before invoking the trauma and personal violation of being observed doing so. A final browse of the Guardian introduced us to Professor David Runciman of Cambridge University and his insistence that six-year-old children should be allowed to vote in general elections, thereby ushering in an age of glorious socialism. And as the year drew to a close, we witnessed the exquisite sensitivity of Mr Roy G Guzmán, who describes himself as “a marginalised writer,” a man oppressed by the “violence” of people not liking his poetry.

Clearly, we must do as they say. Utopia demands it.

Comments

[jabrwok]

No Place does, indeed, demand it.

Getting all this distilled Wokeness in one, huge, end-of-year dollop really drives home the moral poison to which we've been exposed, though perhaps not quite inoculated, in dribs and drabs.

Off to the tip jar (though given the preceding, perhaps an invoice for mental and emotional trauma would be more justified). Yes, I know...credit note, etc:-P.

[David]

Getting all this distilled Wokeness in one, huge, end-of-year dollop really drives home the moral poison to which we’ve been exposed

It does, I think, serve as a cautionary tale.

Off to the tip jar

Bless you, sir. May your armpits forever be fragrant, but unobtrusively so.

[Glen]

May brought us more from the Guardian, when the paper championed Teen Vogue as the future of woke publishing. Sales immediately plummeted.

LOL Tip jar hit. Have a great 2019, David.

[David]

Tip jar hit.

Bless you, sir. May your enemies be bedevilled by the smell of hamster pee.

[Clam]

moral poison

That.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Why reheat the year, there is still some stupidity left...

From Missouri (sorry, R.Sherman) asking a woman out shorter than you might be sexual misconduct.

Later in the deposition, Andy Hayes, Mizzou’s Assistant Vice Chancellor for Civil Rights & Title IX, suggested that if someone were confused about whether they had “a legitimate purpose” for asking someone out on a date, they could call his office for clarification, but they might not get a definite answer.

Read the whole thing. I am still trying to figure out what the hell an "illegitimate purpose" for asking for a date is as I am assuming 99.99% of the time it is not to lure someone into the woods to go all Hannibal Lecter on them, but then I am not getting a six figure income from the state of Missouri to be the arbiter of whether my 6'1" self asking 5'4" Betty Sue to go shoot pool and have a beer at Booche's is borderline criminal activity.

Of course something that heinous may have to be bumped up to the actual Chancellor for Civil Rights and Title IX, and not some mere Assistant.

[pst314]

Professor Ryan Evely Gildersleeve informed the world that laziness is a “a political stance,”

The return of the Great Gildersleeve?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gildersleeve
"Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve...a pompous windbag..."

[David]

The return of the Great Gildersleeve?

Our own Professor Gildersleeve is notable if only for his determination to mangle the English language and render it incomprehensible. Possibly in the hope that no-one will notice just how pin-headed he is.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Another dose of year end stupidity, again from Columbia, Missouri, this time from Stephens College.

A private Missouri women’s college is changing its admissions policy to accept transgender women and nonbinary students assigned female at birth...A statement from the college says it’s evolving as the world’s understanding of womanhood changes.

The world's understanding. Right.

[Monty James]

Twelve months, twelve examples of the madness of the woke. David, you've just struck upon an idea for a calendar--David Thompson's Utopia Calendar.

[WTP]

determination to mangle the English language
...
evolving as the world’s understanding of womanhood changes

The greater purpose is to destroy the language in which the vast majority of the world's contracts and agreements are written in. It's similar to what eventually happens with fiat currency (and to be clear, I'm not a gold standard absolutist). Words take on more and more unintended meaning in order to spread the definition (value) of those words such that at some point they become meaningless. Sure you can get away with it for a little while. But once words become, for the most intended part, meaningless, all decisions fall to judges and/or strongmen who support those judges. Add to that more and more laws (see Three Felonies a Day) and government by consent of the people is gone. And atheists and such believe the Tower of Babel was just a fable.

[Ant]

We also learned, via Everyday Feminism contributor Sophia Stevens, that minority employees shouldn’t have to do their jobs or be in any way reliable, on account of their fascinating brownness... It’s the intersectional way.

It's a great way to get minority employees fired.

[Ant]

I dropped something for your trouble in the tip jar. :-)

[David]

It’s a great way to get minority employees fired.

As we’ve seen many times, woke commentators tend to give terrible, possibly life-ruining advice.

I dropped something for your trouble in the tip jar.

Bless you, sir. May your enemies know the unconvincing consistency of squeezy-bottle mayonnaise.

[jab]

the unconvincing consistency of squeezy-bottle mayonnaise

This is the second mayonnaise-related comment from our host that I've seen lately. Is there something you'd like to share with the group David?

[David]

Is there something you’d like to share with the group David?

I’m quite particular about the consistency of mayonnaise. Which has to be radically altered – in effect, watered down - to get the stuff to pass through the spout of the squeezy container.

[Joan]

Instalanche!

[David]

Instalanche!

Hide the good silver. And for God’s sake, flush this.

Don’t ask, just flush.

[Coriolan]

Year end surveys such as this that are offered before the year actually ends are very marginalizing to those academics who wish to offer preposterous views on December 29 30th or 31st.

[Paul Nottingham]

I flipped a soupçon into the cookie jar in the hope of a Gentlemen's Relish related blessing. Unfortunately, not only did it turn out to be a bagatelle but PayPal rather caddishly honoured it.

We must talk about credit notes.

[David]

We must talk about credit notes.

Bless you, sir. When emerging for breakfast at a sister-in-law’s house, following a particularly hedonistic late-night party, may you never be faced with the rage-inducing scandal of decaffeinated instant coffee.

[pst314]

I’m quite particular about the consistency of mayonnaise. Which has to be radically altered – in effect, watered down - to get the stuff to pass through the spout of the squeezy container.

Sacrilege! You're supposed to buy it in jars.

[Darleen]

Annnnd... it looks like 2019 will continue with more Woke Than Thou shennigans ... though, I have to admit, I do like these results

[pst314]

in the hope of a Gentlemen's Relish related blessing

Considering the nature of the neighborhood, would this be the Relish in question? The nature of the blessing would then be clear. :-)

" '...I have seen the young person from afar. Who has not, that has ever put into Carlscrona and attended the theatre? I may have spoken to her once or twice, just to pass the time of day, as I did when she came aboard, but only when I was with officers, the young person being known to one and all, to all and sundry, sir, as the Gentlemen's Relish; and I hope I know my station. Besides, I am told she is now the Governor's private piece ... a singing harlot of enormous price, in the words of the poet. But if you wish me to turn her ashore, sir, I will speak to her now - speak to her like a Dutch uncle.' "
--The Surgeon's Mate, by Patrick O'Brian

[pst314]

Annnnd... it looks like 2019 will continue with more Woke Than Thou shennigans ... though, I have to admit, I do like these results.

Heh.™
In another city (Chicago?) the Womens March has been cancelled due to "concerns" about the pervasive Jew-hatred in its national leadership.

[rubberduck]

Professor David Runciman, who believes that 6-year-olds should be allowed to vote, is the heir of a long anti-democratic lineage. In 1938 his great-grandfather Walter Runciman wrote the infamous Runciman Report, in which he recommended that the border regions of Czechoslovakia (at that point the last remaining democracy in Central Europe) should be handed over to Nazi Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runciman_Mission

[Zionist Overlord #73]

What if I've got this giant pile of credit notes? Can I use them next year, or do they expire tomorrow?

Asking for a friend.

[Lorna]

Fell down the rabbit hole. Got lost for over an hour. ;-)

Tip jar has been hit.

[David]

Fell down the rabbit hole. Got lost for over an hour.

It’s easily done. This blog has many tunnels.

Tip jar has been hit.

Bless you, madam. May your drains never be congested and malodorous.

[svh]

When emerging for breakfast at a sister-in-law’s house, following a particularly hedonistic late-night party, may you never be faced with the rage-inducing scandal of decaffeinated instant coffee.

Guild of Evil Christmas?

[David]

Guild of Evil Christmas?

Oh yes. It was quite a party. In fairness to said sister, I should point out that her cooked breakfast was both tasty and restorative. A healing miracle of bacon and sausage. And after some muttering and rummaging, actual coffee was eventually unearthed. As opposed to whatever the hell the decaffeinated instant crap is made of. Floor sweepings, I presume.

[David]

A reminder, were one needed, that the Guardian employs the loveliest of people.

[Alice]

Decaffeinated instant coffee. Ouch.

[David]

Decaffeinated instant coffee. Ouch.

The morning after a party, and at most two hours sleep, you can imagine the indignation. I almost shook her by the elbows.

[Nikw211]

A reminder ...

I must say I didn't expect this from Karen Geier / Doxing Bae L'il:

I am available to help companies build out their Content Strategies. I have worked with small businesses all the way up to Fortune 100 companies.

I have written courses and whitepapers to teach executives how to use and leverage social media. I also give seminars and training sessions to small groups.

If your company needs help, I would be glad to talk to you.

The white paper she refers to there is called How Twitter and Hashtags can Help your PR and Marketing.

Near the end of the paper, Geier explains that although hashtags are "a shortcut to find great conversations on social media, and a great way for you to identify fans and potential customers" she also warns that:

It’s not always easy to figure out exactly what your hashtag should be, though. You should put in careful thought and consideration before you set it out into the wild.

Not precisely certain, therefore, as to how sending a Tweet "out into the wild" that cheerfully gloats over the near death of a fourteen-year-old boy or unrepentantly following that "wild" Tweet up with the another declaring: "god it is fun winding these people up. All they want is the kind of civility you can only get from being a member of a party that allowed Jimmy Savile to fuck children openly for 30 years" would help executives learn how best to "use and leverage social media" (much less result in a shortcut to "great conversations").

Unless of course her strategy is basically to say something as preposterous, as provocative, or as inflammatory as possible - meaning that her strategy is quite literally to advocate for professional trolling in other words.

Now there's a thought.

[Ten]

Instalanche!

That explains all the pocket-protectored fifteen year olds.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

I almost shook her by the elbows.

A good thing you didn't, these days for such a misogynistic act as that you would find yourself blogging from HM Prison Wakefield where the WiFi is slow but the coffee instant.

[pst314]

"And after some muttering and rummaging, actual coffee was eventually unearthed. As opposed to whatever the hell the decaffeinated instant crap is made of...

'Would there never be a drop of coffee, at all?'

'Oh no, sir. Oh no. This is a cocoa-ship, sir; although tea is countenanced.'

'Coffee relaxes the fibres,' called out the Thunderer's surgeon in an authoritative voice. 'I always recommend cocoa.'

--The Commodore, chapter 1, by Patrick O'Brian

...Floor sweepings, I presume.

Made in Ankh-Morpork, then.

[pst314]

That explains all the pocket-protectored fifteen year olds.

Are pocket protectors still used? I haven't seen one in a very long time.

[WTP]

Are pocket protectors still used? I haven't seen one in a very long time.

Not that I’m aware of. T-shirts rarely come with a pocket. Especially concert t-shirts. Plus, they’re kinda cheap so. Not to mention that writing with pen and ink is tre olde school.

[Morpork]

Talking of mayonnaise - which we were on December 28 at 18:02 - did you know that Robert Louis Stevenson died while making mayonnaise? It’s obviously not something you want to fool about with. He was only 44.

[David]

It’s obviously not something you want to fool about with.

Well, yes. The mayonnaise could go off at any moment.

What?

I’ll get my coat.

[Observer]

We also learned, via Everyday Feminism contributor Sophia Stevens, that minority employees shouldn’t have to do their jobs or be in any way reliable, on account of their fascinating brownness... It’s the intersectional way.

Years ago, I was doing research in a government office, and overheard a couple of white employees politely explaining to a minority employee (obviously a new hire) that taking three hours off for lunch wasn't really appropriate in an office environment.

At the time, I thought that it was a gentle way of explaining what the demands of an office job were to someone who was clearly new to the workforce, but now I realize that it was racist oppression to suggest to a member of an intersectionality-favored group that lunch hours should be limited to an hour.

[David]

but now I realize that it was racist oppression to suggest to a member of an intersectionality-favored group that lunch hours should be limited to an hour.

The woke conceit of Designated Victim Groups is not only condescending but also psychological corrosive, both to the enabler and to the supposed beneficiary. If you habitually treat certain people as being incapable of meeting even routine expectations, and treat them as entitled to special favours, double standards, and endless short-cuts and exemptions, then those excuses may come to be relied upon, internalised, a kind of mental habit. Typically resulting in an obnoxious attitude.

Being exposed to such things daily, for years, might tempt the best of us.

[Daniel Ream]

Unless of course her strategy is basically to say something as preposterous, as provocative, or as inflammatory as possible - meaning that her strategy is quite literally to advocate for professional trolling in other words.

Follow the original tweet, and that does indeed seem to be her strategy - she responds to one of the people talking about what an awful person she is with "Thank you for increasing my engagement numbers".

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Instalanche!

This has been Mentioned in Despatches over at Ace's again, best hide the Night Nurse.

[David]

[ Sounds of frantic toilet flushing. ]

[Dyspeptic Curmudgeon]

The woke conceit of Designated Victim Groups is not only condescending but also psychological corrosive, both to the enabler and to the supposed beneficiary. If you habitually treat certain people as being incapable of meeting even routine expectations, and treat them as entitled to special favours, double standards, and endless short-cuts and exemptions, then those excuses may come to be relied upon, internalised, a kind of mental habit. Typically resulting in an obnoxious attitude.

And that applie not only to 'Designated Victim Groups'. AIUI the longest recent US government shitdown (Heh, it's only one letter off!) was 21 days. This one looks like it could be longer a lot longer. Also AIUI the money for the SNAP and EBT cards is projected to run out at the end of January, unless the shitdown problem is fixed. I'm not to sure that the problem can be fixed without one of the protagonists appearing to have been 'fixed'. I'm also pretty sure that 'corrosive' is far too inoffensive an adjective to describe what might happen if the money does run out. 'Coruscating' might apply, but deflagration or detonation may turn out to be a better adverb to describe what happens then (for certain meanings of 'better').

[Daniel Ream]

[...] then those excuses may come to be relied upon, internalised, a kind of mental habit.

The psychological term of art for this is 'learned helplessness'.

[Anon]

Indian medical student kicked out of college by racist white professors for questioning their SJW beliefs

Kieran Ravi Bhattacharya was a medical student at the University of Virginia and he has been kicked out after having questioned his white college professor's SJW beliefs.

Here is the audio of the lecture where he questioned his professor's SJW beliefs:

https://m.soundcloud.com/user-381804527/microagressions-presented-by-amwa

He speaks from 28:45 to 34:00

Here is the audio of the suspension hearing:

https://m.soundcloud.com/user-381804527/asac

Here is a picture of the people who were at the suspension hearing:

https://imgur.com/a/RUvKXNH

Notice how 14 out of the 16 people at that suspension hearing are white people. If this is not an act of racism against a sincere indian medical student, then I don't know what is. Look at their smug arrogant faces as they kick him out for DARING to question their SJW beliefs.

His twitter handle is kieranravib if you want to ask him questions or set up an interview with him

[Pogonip]

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5b75ac1fe4b0182d49b1c2ed?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067&ec_carp=255888075491786201

Wow.

[Ten]

Notice how 14 out of the 16 people at that suspension hearing are white people. If this is not an act of racism against a sincere indian medical student, then I don't know what is.

And that's how sensible people become progressive intentionalists, or in other words, SJWs.

[sH2]

Getting all this distilled Wokeness in one, huge, end-of-year dollop really drives home the moral poison to which we've been exposed, though perhaps not quite inoculated, in dribs and drabs.

That.

[David]

That.

If nothing else, it does hint at the pathological nature of academia’s Clown Quarter, where the left has built its fiefdom, and the kinds of mental wreckage deemed fit to teach your children.

You have to wonder, for instance, how any students of pallor might feel on learning that their history professor is prone to unhinged racist meltdowns, in which he announces just how much he “hates white people,” especially white children. And who does this proudly, in public, knowing that his lengthy racial tirade will likely be seen by his students and employer, and either doesn’t care what they might infer, or assumes that such sentiments will earn him kudos from his equally woke colleagues.

And if you poke through the archives, you’ll see that Professor Livingston is by no means a one-off anomaly or some random outlier.

[JuliaM]

’...or assumes that such sentiments will earn him kudos from his equally woke colleagues.’

Well, they usually do, after all.

[David]

If anyone has trouble with comments not appearing, email me and I’ll rattle the spam filter.

[Ten]

Public radio editors and purple prose: https://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2018/12/heres-a-video-of-a-minnesota-driver-doing-minnesota-driver-things

[David]

Pose interruptus.

[Sort-Of-Mad Max]

"Pose interruptus"

Oh, man; he missed hitting the stud by about 6 inches. That might have soaked up the impact of concentrated dumbass in one spot. Maybe.

Sometimes it's handy to know what your world is built out of, and act accordingly.

[Hopp Singg]

You might want to accept applications next year before you do your list, David, in order to avoid the year-end rush by the unnoticed:

Well, Hempstead officials have had enough of that. Besides urging parents that toy guns are not really acceptable gifts—for Christmas or any other time—the town decided to sponsor a “buyback" for all toy guns, from squirt guns and up. Children and parents were invited to swap the offensive toys for something “less dangerous.”
“We don’t want the kids playing with guns,” Hempstead Village Trustee LaMont Jackson told WABC-TV. “Guns are dangerous.”

[Miles]

This blog has many tunnels.

Started out reading a post on Laurie Penny and ended up reading your post on 'The Good Life'. What a journey. :-)

Left something in your tip jar. Happy new year, David.

[David]

ended up reading your post on ‘The Good Life’.

Yes, I quite like that one. It, or rather the subsequent discussion, proved more instructive than anticipated. Also, the discovery of Good Life fan fiction.

Left something in your tip jar. Happy new year, David.

And to you, sir. May your supply of posh Japanese gin always be matched by an adequate supply of tonic. And limes.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

The year isn't over yet, meanwhile in Wakanda, a great healing occurs.

"We are going to untie the sheep and walk it to the ocean to waken Nxele's spirit. Nxele's spirit is along this ocean. Down with white racists, down," he shouted...Maxwele then cut the sheep's throat as other protesters burnt incense. He declared: "Today, the dignity of the black people has been restored. This is an offering to our ancestors...

You will be surprised to learn that the animal rights people were unhappy.

An animal rights activist started shouting at one of the protesters, allegedly telling him "the only thing you know is to kill". She was hit on the chest with a sandal by a protester and foul language filled the air...

It is unclear what the animal rights types will sacrifice to restore their dignity in the great enlightened 21st century.

[Adam]

“Today the dignity of black people has been restored...”

I could be kicked out of medical school for saying what I am thinking about that statement.

Next year, I could be kicked out just for thinking it.

[Adam]

Kieran Battacharya.

Sounds Irish.

That white DNA will out.

Anyway, Indians do not qualify as a victim group. Too many of them believe in self-discipline, effort, competition...and correct answers. They often have little patience for academic BS. (Based on my personal experiences with Indian friends.)

[Clam]

New York magazine invited us to sympathise with leftist women who blame their divorces, estrangements and sessions with psychiatrists on the continued existence of Donald Trump.

"Related"…

https://pjmedia.com/trending/watch-store-clerk-loses-his-mind-when-man-wearing-trump-gear-walks-into-store/

Happy new year, everyone. :-D

[David]

“Related…”

Blimey. Not, I’m guessing, management material.

I actually howled with laughter at the “Do my bidding” quip.

I denounce myself.

[pst314]

Blimey. Not, I’m guessing, management material.

Management has fired his sorry *ss. (I raise a glass and cheer.)

[David]

Management has fired his sorry *ss.

Presumably, they realised that their company’s reputation wasn’t being enhanced by employees screeching slanderous abuse at its customers. Because of a Trump hat.

[David]

Laurie and Tim are bonding on a cross-cultural level:

Right, the Other Half and I are heading across town to brother-in-law’s end-of-year bash. I’ve been assured there will be jolliment. And pie.

Play nicely. Use coasters.

And an outstanding new year to all the heathen rabble.

[WTP]

Use coasters.

Under the firecrackers? But of course. We ain't the heathens you thinks we is.

(*Fills golden calf beverage dispenser with 3:2 mix of Nighttrain and NightNurse*)

Where are the matches?

[Pogonip]

David, the heathen rabble wishes you and yours the same.

[JuliaM]

Happy New Year all!

[David]

Morning, all.

I’m assuming we’re all feeling refreshed and revitalised.

What?

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Godfrey Elfwick helps us into the new year.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Courtesy of the Beeb licence fee, you can learn your secret national identity.

I'm Ethiopian, so I want my reparations from you ofays.

[jimmy g funkhouser]

The basic difference between the Left and the Right......

The Left begins every argument on the premise that they are moral and you are EVIL.

[David]

Script mix-ups dogged the production. At one point Melody Anderson spent six hours in make-up being turned into a giant vampire spider, before De Laurentiis pointed out it had nothing to do with the film and ordered her to change.

King of the impossible!

Via Obnoxio.

[Hal]

I’m assuming we’re all feeling refreshed and revitalised.

What?

Ehn, no problem . . . leave the alarm switched off, get around to waking up only when inclined to, go from there . . .

[Hal]

Courtesy of the Beeb licence fee, you can learn your secret national identity.

I am informed I'm Congolese and definitely not Japanese.

Apparently this is because I am very conscientious and even more agreeable.

[Hal]

The basic difference between the Left and the Right......

The Left begins every argument on the premise that they are moral and you are EVIL.

Of course, in turn, the right begins every argument on the premise that you are EVIL and they are moral.

Yes, see that Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite. as well . . . !

[Fay]

Courtesy of the Beeb licence fee, you can learn your secret national identity.

Ethiopian it is. Me and Farnsworth are where it's at!

And in another available quiz from the same source my result in the "How dark is your personality?" is: Infrequently vile.

[Fay]

And in honour of being only infrequently vile, I pinged the tip jar. Happy New Year David!

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

And in another available quiz from the same source...

Moderately nefarious.

[WTP]

Moderately nefarious Tiwanese. Does Tiwan have nukes? AFAF.

[Pogonip]

My secret national identity is...Klingon! I was banned from Planet Kling because I just don’t like the black-leather look.

[David]

I pinged the tip jar.

Bless you, madam. May your crafty afternoon nap never be interrupted by a neighbour’s enthusiastic use of a newly-purchased leaf-blower.

[David]

Today’s words are virtue and journalism.

[Pogonip]

David, your mention of a new leaf blower reminds me—what outre appliances did you get for Christmas THIS year?

[David]

what outre appliances did you get for Christmas THIS year?

Nothing outlandish. I think the lesson has been learned about niche kitchen appliances.

[Daniel Ream]

Kieran Ravi Bhattacharya was a medical student at the University of Virginia and he has been kicked out after having questioned his white college professor's SJW beliefs.

Any bets on whether he'll become the next Lindsey Shepherd?

I'm joking, of course. He's not a cute white girl.

[David]

Kieran Ravi Bhattacharya was a medical student at the University of Virginia and he has been kicked out after having questioned his white college professor’s SJW beliefs.

“I think we should open up the floor to other questions… I’m reading your body language [and will therefore change the subject before you reveal me].”

By and large, these are people whose motives are not entirely benign and therefore somewhat camouflaged. But the pretence of altruism and intellectual heft is thin, unconvincing and rather fragile. If you poke at their assumptions and convolutions, even politely – if you do anything but defer – it’s unlikely that you’ll be thanked for this. And if an opportunity exists to subsequently intimidate and threaten you, by way of punishment, however dishonestly, there’s a good chance it will be taken, and taken eagerly.

This, not what they say, tells you who they are.

[svh]

This, not what they say, tells you who they are.

Lefties project.

[David]

Lefties project.

More than most, yes. The passive-aggressive inversion heard during the lecture and subsequent suspension hearing is pretty much a signature of the “social justice” type and a common manoeuvre. And so, we get accusations of sins that are supposedly grievous but oddly unspecified, with no particulars forthcoming, despite repeated requests. And defending yourself, however mildly, from psychological aggression and career-ending threats – by recording the aggression and threats – is itself deemed “aggressive” and therefore, conveniently, a validation of the psychological aggression already underway.

[Steve E]

It's not clear how Kieran came to be reported to be censured; but, it's obvious classroom life these days is not far removed from the kind of society that existed in Soviet Russia. Say the wrong thing--unspecified though it may be--and you can be hauled before a kangaroo court and banished, turned into the NKVD by friends, family, or fellow students. If they can order a psyche evaluation, can the camps really be that far behind?

[Governor Squid]

If you poke at their assumptions and convolutions, even politely – if you do anything but defer – it’s unlikely that you’ll be thanked for this.

One is sorely tempted to endow a scholarship fund earmarked specifically for those few brave souls willing to misbehave. One realizes that the legal defense fund will likely dwarf the scholarship fund.

[Your Name Here]

Kieran Battacharya might apply to get his Doctorate in Laziness Studies under the tutelage of Professor Gildersleeve. No coursework. Readings optional. Dissertation can be submitted, like, whenever. Tweet preferred. Points taken off for proper spelling and punctuation. Post doctorate lifetime position in higher ed will be guaranteed.

[Spiny Norman]

I think the lesson has been learned about niche kitchen appliances.

The flame-thrower is still unused?

[WTP]

The flame-thrower is still unused?

You mean for food preparation, of course.