Ladies and gents, we are witnessing the disintegration of Western Culture in front of our very eyes. I don’t even know what more to say, other than just posting this story about a man being found guilty of a hate crime for posting a video of a dog doing a Nazi salute. If that’s not bad enough, this should thoroughly scare the living hell out of you. Observe the rise of Big-Brother-esque state in Britain of all places.
Well haven’t I had an unusually cantankerous, controversial and adversarial week! Another week, another snowflake bites the dust! I guess I’ll have to get my fill someplace else. The who really isn’t important. He’s a professor at Queen’s University (who curiously isn’t on RateMyProfessor for some reason). How do I know him? I did a Dying with Dignity event a few years ago and he was one of the speakers at it. Seemed like a nice enough guy at the time. I friended him on Facebook a few months later. But then, as I discovered much to my chagrin, (using Tildeb’s terminology), that he’s a card carrying regressive leftist. How regressive you may ask? Everyone that disagrees with him is: Alt-Right, A Right-Winger, Hitler, Racist, Bigot, Coconut, (fill_in_the_blank Ad hominem). Now I can admit, that I am provocative and I’m stubborn and just can’t let shit go. So I have been responding on his Facebook page to his various extreme left posts that he puts up a little more regularly that usual. The latest one was so ridiculous that I just couldn’t help myself and unfortunately for me, it was the straw that broke the camels back.
I’ve been an admirer of Jordan Peterson for quite some time now. There are some things that I vehemently disagree with him about (particularly in light of his Christianity and his view that Western Civilization is predicated on it) but I am entirely on board with his views that Cultural Marxism/Post Modernism that has completely infected the Universities, and more importantly, his position on free speech. This former professor acquaintance of mine is part of a panel of people who are going to be discussing (tonight actually – March 20) “safe spaces and online harassment” in the aftermath of the Jordan Peterson event at Queen’s just a few weeks ago. Here’s what he had to say when I asked him about the protests and the disruption of the events when I asked him:
As if that’s not bad enough, he had the audacity to tell me about how civil his discussion will be, because “that’s how they roll at Queen’s U”!!!!!! Apparently posting a YouTube video as a rebuttal that directly contradicts his absurd claim that debates are “civil” at Queen’s University was just too much for him. He replied with some other nonsensical bullshit and informed me that he was going to be blocking me. I’d show a screenshot, but unfortunately, I can’t because, being blocked and all, I no longer have access to the thread.
Pay attention everyone. This is the kind of idiot that is teaching your children at post secondary schooling institutions.
So I’ve been a follower of the Why Evolution is True for quite some time now. I’ve even met Jerry Coyne, got my book signed by him and sat right beside him at a brunch event on the topic of free will. Seemed like a nice enough guy. I’ve made some comments on his blog on various posts over the years but they are generally quite few and far between. That was, until yesterday. I’ve contravened the rigorously enforced “roolz” of the language police and have now been banned from here
The apparent thread that set it all off started at comment number 23. I’ll let you read it through and decide for yourself. Apparently telling someone who brings up the electoral college and the popular vote (a year and a half after the election) that they’re just engaging in sour grapes is a grave insult. I encourage you to read through the rest of the post and you’ll find instances of “insults” being leveled at other people. Didn’t see any warnings issued to those people. I suspect it was because of my political stance (I’m not a rabid, mouth-frothing Trump-hater like almost everyone else in the forum) although he denies it.
This was the thread that broke the camel’s back apparently and got me banned:
Now, this wouldn’t really be that big a deal if it wasn’t for the fact that he routinely posts stories on his blog, decrying the suppression of free speech on University campuses. It wouldn’t be that big of a deal if he didn’t say the following about John Haught after a public debate the two of them had in which Haught tried to get the video of the event suppressed:
“I am deeply angry about this stand, and can see only one reason for what Haught has done: cowardice. He lost the debate; his ideas were exposed for the mindless theological fluff that they were; and I used his words against him, showing that even “sophisticated” theology, when examined under the microscope of reason, is just a bunch of made-up stuff, tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. ”
Apparently calling a man a coward and telling him that his ideas are mindless fluff told by an idiot is perfectly fine and not insulting in any way. (Ironically, I completely agree with everything Jerry said. I’ve watched the debate and I couldn’t make heads or tails of anything that John Haught said. Gibberish from start to finish as far as I could tell.) However don’t you dare direct any insults towards him or even his readers because the language police will ban you!
I don’t have a right to post on anyone’s blog. I never claimed that I did. The only thing I have done, is point out that for a a man that claims to be in favour of free speech, he quite plainly doesn’t practice what he preaches.
And that’s why he’s a complete and total Hypocrite.
Let me give some context and explain that very provocative and inflammatory headline. First of all, I would like to say that I am not a Donald Trump fan. From what I can tell, he’s an out-and-out con man who appears to have constructed an alternate reality in his own head. He’s (according to him) the best at everything, his buildings are the biggest, his businesses are the most profitable, etc, etc. Whether or not something is true or not, doesn’t really seem to matter to him. So why would I say that his becoming president was a good thing? Or the best thing to have happened in American politics in a long time? I’m coming at it from a different perspective. I don’t view the presidency as a Donald Trump win or a Republican win. I view it as a Democratic loss and a Hillary Clinton loss. He’s a game changer. The idea that you need an entrenched, career politician and a gigantic politically-savvy machine to run the country hasn’t been this shaken since Ronald Regan’s 1980 election. This one, more so, in that Trump doesn’t have much support even from within his own party. What else is so great about this? Well, it’s exposed large swathes of the main stream media for what they are: not impartial, objective purveyors of truth, but rather the propaganda wings of their affiliated parties. Unfortunately, it’s been rather sad and painful to see some of the fallout of this, from the Democratic Party side. After that humiliating defeat, I would have expected that they’d have used the past year as an opportunity to learn from their mistakes, maybe back off on the identity politics and focus more on issues and how they can convey the message that they can do a better job than the Republicans. Alas, no, that is not the case. Their strategy appears to be to double down on the hysterics and race baiting and ad hominem attacks. From a survey of n=1 (me), I can say that it has backfired on them and has made me more sympathetic to Trump’s administration which is a position I don’t really like being in. It’s times like this I am glad I am not an American. I’d like to see both sides do better and my sincere hope is that if the Trump victory has shown us something, it’s that political correctness is a political liability, not an asset. If that’s the one thing that can be learned from all of this, I think it’ll all have been worth it.
It’s been a while since I’ve been on here and I am feeling especially chipper this morning. I had a wonderful chat with a bloke who is advocating for the firing of Katie Hopkins because of a “racist” or “inflammatory” or “offensive” tweet. After many back and forth posts, this was the resultant gem of wisdom that I was left with. I feel I just had to share it with you all.
Some context
“Well, after some sleep….. let me take you by the hand and explain…. watch and read very, very carefully…..
The hypothetical situation I described, was an illustration that one’s words have an impact. The reaction of the hypothetical tooth remover, one might argue, was possibly (did I mention that this is a hypothetical situation) as a result of the hypothetical third party being offended, rather than his existential raison-d’etre to ensure I didn’t say the things I said again!
What you missed, in the developing hypothetical narrative, and it would be hard for you to know about the hypothetical end of the story, but because I am exceedingly ‘hench’…. I reacted violently to having my teeth violently removed, ripped the assailants’ arms from their sockets and proceeded to hit him around the head and torso with the soggy ends of the aforementioned arms, all the while unleashing an unrestrained tirade of abuse – albeit it with a rather awkward lisp – rendering the initial verbal interaction, whimpering in its shadow!
….. so to pick up on some of the points you are trying to drive…. (as I understand them)…. when I Said ‘EXACTLY’ to keeping my mouth shut, that is all about personal responsibility…. and applying my own intelligence to not initiate a ‘situation’.
Violence only normally escalates, and from my perspective, violence or the threat of violence are not a ‘nice, great or good’ way of shutting people up (from a ‘moral’ perspective)…. it is also not efficient (on its own) from a practical perspective…. even when threatened by an overtly powerful opponent, the truth, and opposition, has ways of getting ‘in’ and getting ‘out’…. See Ghandi, see South Africa etc. etc.
Returning to the original scenario, (remember, the hypothetical one.. 
😀 ) if I wasn’t so “hench” or the assailant, (by some almost impossible stretch of the imagination) was actually more ‘hench’ (almost impossible to contemplate, I know….!) I might have retreated, cowered and thought about hurling abuse at the assailant in the future. They might (hypothetically) have then used that exchange to bully me into silence in the future…. thereby effectively censoring me… especially if associated with a specific threat of “If you say X again, I will do Y”…..”
Now, after having read this, is there any possible way that you could conclude that this outburst came from the healthy mind of a normal person?
I was reading through some news here. There’s a feud going on between a Georgia Representative and civil rights activist John Lewis and President Elect Donald Trump. After referring to the president elect as “not a legitimate president”, Donald had the following to say
“Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results, All talk, talk, talk — no action or results. Sad!”
I’ve read it over and over. I agree with it except for perhaps the “all talk” part of the tweet. I don’t know what John Lewis’ record as a representative is (and I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that Trump doesn’t either) but I would think that his civil rights record speaks for itself. However, to say that this tweet demonstrates his disdain for the African-American community or that he is “spitting in the face” of all black people is simply ridiculous. It does nothing of the sort.
Like it or not, Trump is the legitimate President. All of this whining and moaning about him not being a legitimate president, or Russian hacking effecting the results of the election are starting to get really old. Yes, he’s an idiot and an ignoramus and an egomaniac. He won the election fair and square and whether you voted for him or not, whether you like him or not, he’s your President. The democrats had their chance, and they blew it. Just think how incompetent and out of touch you have to be to lose a general election to an illiterate orangutan internet troll. (Granted Hillary won the popular vote but not the one that counted) No really – sit and think about that. Instead of railing against Trump, maybe try and figure out how you could f*&k something up so bad so you don’t make the same mistake 4 years from now.
This is a post in tribute to my new found blogging adversary mrsmcmommy. Her and her Dad are devout Christians. How devout you ask? Well, it’s hard to say. They both have this habit of tap dancing, flailing their arms around and resorting to the Tu Quoque when asked direct questions. But given that mrsmcmommy feels biblical slavery is justified, I think it’s fair to say that she is pretty devout. Anyways, she directed me to one of her dad’s posts and I figured I’d have some fun with it. See if you agree
I was at the mall last month during the holidays.
I walked around the stores and observed all the signs and decorations
There were a lot of things on sale and great deals
I’ve been to enough malls to believe that.
Of course, you can’t have a holiday season without a gift giver
So lo, there was talk of La Befana
La Befana is the bringer of presents
La Befana has a list of every single child who has been naughty and nice
La Befana can go around the entire world in one night
…this sounded vaguely familiar to me.
La Befana has nothing in common with Santa Claus!
How could it?
Ancient Italians weren’t getting presents by the light of lava fountains.
Yet those primitive people understood that somebody had to give everyone presents
Where did they get that idea?
At one point we learned about La Befana, The Italian Witch
Nobody really believes in La Befana anymore.
She is listed in the ‘myth’ column along with Kris Kringle, Julenissen, and a dozen other legendary gift givers.
Santa Claus is a different story.
Centuries later, Santa Claus still hands out millions of childrenwho believe in him.
To be sure, a lot of people put Santa Claus in the myth column too.
They think La Befana and Santa Claus are essentially the same thing.
They think this because they’re ignorant.
Or obstinate.
Whereas La Befana was created by St Nick
…St Nick was Santa Claus.
Santa Claus was that pre-existing source of mana into La Befana.
(The ad at the mall says it differently because it’s in English, not Italian…)
And Santa Claus didn’t leave any tracks behind
To be clear…
…I didn’t get all this from the ads at the mall
Don’t go to the mall expecting to find the answer.
We have to write our own answers.
Santa Claus gives presents to us every second of every day.
In Canada, the US, Italy, the presents are being given and waiting to be discovered…
…by those who care to look for it.
So first, let me just declare how wrong I was in regards to my last post. I didn’t think Donald Trump had a chance at winning this election. I honestly didn’t think that enough people would vote for a 70 year old, anti-science, conspiracy theorist, internet troll with the attention span of a toddler and the vocabulary of a 12 year old. You sure showed me America. Buckle up an enjoy the ride. I think it’s gonna be a thriller.
I’ll also state however, that I don’t think that ALL of the people who voted for Trump are stupid or ignorant or hate women. There are other legitimate reasons for Trumps victory that lie beyond that simple analysis. Change – people tired of the same old same old. Hillary Clinton’s very unsavory character – (pathological liar for instance). That’s not to say that Donald Trump doesn’t have any of the same or even worse characteristics, but it levels the playing field. Personally, I’m for change too, I just don’t think that Donald Trump is the man for the job. I am genuinely concerned about his lack of knowledge on a great many subjects (like global climate change for instance). If I have to pick a silver lining to this cloud, I at least hope I can say that Political Correctness is going to take a shit kicking, which I am thoroughly grateful for. The PC, authoritarian, regressive left is becoming very menacing and it’s my hope that they’ll be taken down a notch or two in the next couple of years.
Anywho, on to the reason I am posting this. There are many sources of entertainment in the world. One of my favorite, is the kind that doesn’t appear to be intentionally written for the purposes of entertainment, but turns out to be awesome. Reading though some responses on some of my old blogs posts, I found myself over at Eva’s site again and noticed that there were some updated comments on a particularly hot topic issue (her conversion to Christianity and subsequent blossoming into an all around more tolerant and accepting person for it). I read the statement in quotes below and burst into a hysterical fit of laughter.
“Hi Justin, good to hear from you again. ‘Frustrating’ is one word for it! I actually received an email from someone who knows one of the ‘main protagonists’ so to speak, quite well, kind of filling me in on some details of that person’s life that meant I could feel nothing but patience and understanding for her (or him). It certainly made my ‘loving kindness’ meditation easier, anyway
”
You’d have familiarize yourself with the whole debacle that took place last spring by going here. As far as I am aware, only tildeb and myself were the “protagonists”, but I don’t know anyone who could have emailed her claiming to know me “quite well, so to speak”. From what little I know of tildeb, he likes to keep his private life to himself as well, and I have divulged very little details of myself, so I’m a little skeptical of the claim of the mysterious emailer knowing either us of “quite well, so to speak”
One other detail to bear in mind: Both myself and tildeb have been banned from commenting on her site. So considering that, I’d like to edit her above statement into something a little more accurate:
“Hi Justin, good to hear from you again. ‘Frustrating’ Point out an inconvenient truth that I am perpetuating a lie is one word for it way to describe it! I actually received an email from someone who knows has dealt with one of the ‘main protagonists’ so to speak, quite well, kind of filling me in on some details of that person’s life on other blog posts but doesn’t really know anything about that person at all that meant I could feel nothing but patience and understanding for her (or him) had to ban him from speaking on my site forever because he/she was rude and intolerant. It certainly made my ‘loving kindness’ meditation easier, anyway me feel secure in my own misguided irrational beliefs and knowledge that I am a morally superior person because I am no longer an “intolerant and angry” atheist. It also ensured that nothing I ever say will ever be challenged by anyone who doesn’t share my views because I now have adopted a policy of banning all such people from commenting.
P.S. I am a VERY tolerant person.
There’s only 8 days to go until the US election and I cannot wait for this to be over. I expect Hillary Clinton to win. I’d like to think it will be by a landslide and all polls indicate it will be that way. It is at this point that I cannot express enough condolences to any American readers of my blog. To have to choose between an unscrupulous, sociopathic, pathological liar and an illiterate, ignorant, psychotic moron would seem to me to be extremely depressing. If you want to listen to a great podcast about the utter lack of any human worth in either candidate, listen to Sam Harris’ “The Lesser Evil” – a conversation with Andrew Sullivan. It was amazing, insightful, depressing and even slightly optimistic. Both have very little good to say about Hillary Clinton but are voting for her and recommend that everyone else does too, because the alternative would be a million times worse.
It is at this point, that I think I would like to point out that the need for education reform in the United States is DIRE. That Donald Trump has made it as far as he has – legitimately because large numbers of extremely paranoid, ignorant, stupid people voted for him in primaries – should be of great concern for any American who would like to see that their country remain a world super power. The US is the one country that the UN doesn’t function without. It’s the lynch pin that, as we learned in 2008, can have serious consequences on the stability of the global economy. We can’t have a nation full of morons voting for another moron like Donald Trump to be at the helm of a world super power without there being some disastrous consequences. This man should have been laughed out of the room when he announced his bid for the White House. Why wasn’t he? That’s a question that every concerned, patriotic US citizen should be asking themselves every single day. The second question should be “How do we prevent this from ever happening again?” My answer to the second question is robust education which places the highest value on critical thought, sound reasoning skills and the ability to discern between evidence and rhetoric. My answer to the first question I think should be self-evident.
I know that’s a very vague title for a post because it could be about pretty much anything, but in this particular case, the stupid people of Calgary City Council outnumber the smart ones by a ratio of 9 to 5. That was the outcome of the vote to consider revising their 2011 decision to stop fluoridating city water. 5 said yes, 9 said no. Now remember, it was not a vote to start adding fluoride to the water again – It was just a vote on a motion to merely consider the possibility that they might have made a mistake.
Read the article here
From a previous CBC article in February of this year (full article here)
“Lindsay McLaren, the researcher with the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine who led the study, told the Calgary Eyeopener‘s David Gray that there were more cavities in both Calgary and Edmonton over the period of the study, but “it got worse in Calgary, where fluoridation was stopped, than in Edmonton.”
McLaren said the study is clear about the cause and effect at play.
“We designed the study so we could be as sure as possible that [the increased tooth decay] was due to [fluoride] cessation rather than due to other factors,” she told the CBC.
“We systematically considered a number of other factors … and in the end, everything pointed to fluoridation cessation being the most important factor.” ”
Still, those 9 councilors for the city of Calgary are not convinced enough to even reconsider their decision. It was even treated as a “political hot potato” with likely some of those 9 councilors opposing the motion for purely political reasons. “He (Dr. Ghali) said even asking for the information could make it look like they were reopening the “very divisive issue” of fluoridation, just as they enter an election year.”
So I guess for now, politics trumps health concerns.
And this is why you should never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.
The Boastful Blasphemer 