Monday, November 3, 2014

Reason Magazine Defends Child Pornography

John Grisham's defense of child porn addicts triggered a well deserved scandal that should have been provoked by his execrable books. Grisham's comments are even worse than they seem at a glance since arguing that child porn is harmless is a defense of child porn. Grisham has more sympathy for his pedophile friend and only fiegned compassion of child victims that wouldn't even fool someone dumb enough to enjoy his books. Grisham condemned by all sane people but found defenders among extremists, the Koch funded Reason magazine published a defense of the pedophile sympathizing hack.

Reason writer Liz Brown begins  with a summary of Grisham's career and the scandal over his comments. She complains that a critic of Grisham "makes it a matter of who the "real victims" are, painting herself as the champion of sexually-exploited children and Grisham as singing sympathy for child abusers." She insists that "Grisham said nothing of the sort" in actuality he argued that viewing child pornography doesn't cause harm, an obvious defense of child pornography.

Brown continues by asking " it possible to advocate—as Grisham does—for rolling back mandatory minimums for both aging white dudes who look at teen porn and black teens who get caught with pot?" Its possible but insanely immoral; pot should be legal because smoking it doesn't harm while viewing child porn is one of the worst crimes possible against children. Anyone who support more lenient sentences for viewing child porn Elizabeth Brown - oh wait Elizabeth Noland Brown - supports pedophilia. Lessening sentences for viewing child porn would inflame production; a crime hindered by consequences for viewing child pornography. Liz acknowledges that Grisham "apologized for his comments" but she thinks "his original sentiments shouldn't require an apology" meaning that she agrees with a defense of child porn and believes its harmless.

Brown objects to the notion that "if you engage in pedophilia on the internet, you are a real pedophile" and argues that there's no way to engage in pedophilia because its a mental disorder; a very weak argument. Clearly Grisham's critic meant that if you look at a child pornography you are a pedophile and sexual predator. Any sane person would agree with that, Brown's attempt to weasel out of that with technicalities doesn't look good.

Liz believes that " that viewing child porn online is" not necessarily wrong. She mocks the concept of survivors of child porn "knowing that "images of you, of underage, naked you, are circulating the internet as you try to go about your life and there is nothing you can do." People who look at these images are contributing to the victim's pain, she admonishes." Anyone who denies (as Brown does) that child porn causes harm is defending child porn and dismissing the pain of child victims of rape.

Brown questions the idea that "the solution possibly to get tougher on people who had no contact with these children and nothing to do with producing these images? In what way does that make anyone safer?" Credible deterrents for viewing child pornography deters production of child pornography; a lack of credible deterrents means a broader market for child pornography and thus more production. She insists that the "solution to all of our social ills can't simply be to keep casting wider and deeper prison nets" to believe that people guilty of crimes against deserve prison is not the same as belief that prison is the solution to problems.

She spends a few paragraphs whining about alleged differences fo images of sixteen year olds and six year olds. All entirely irrelevant since Grisham's chum was arrested for images that included pictures of children under 12; Brown thinks someone like that shouldn't be in prison. Besides an image of a sixteen year old child porn victim is still likely an image of rape taken against a victim's will; which should be punishable by prison.

Brown rambles apocalyptically about the "carceral left" or "illiberal left." Her evidence? A bunch of whining about affirmative consent laws on campus,  much like the fashion police campus consent laws cannot be used to send anyone to prison. The entire concept of a "carceral left" lacks evidence entirely.

She bemoans " things like due process" yet her article does not cite a single example of an actual violation of due process, so that must be dismissed due to lack of evidence. Brown rails against "America's monstrous prison industrial complex" which doesn't exist at all. At "peak use" of "prison labor" in  "2002, fewer than 5,000 inmates were employed by private firms, amounting to one-quarter of one per cent of the carceral population." The reality is that prisons cost the economy money and are only profitable for companies who sell things prisoners need to prisons.

Brown describes the non-existent 'carceral left' as " making things worse for the very groups of people progressives claim to to be helping (in addition to, you know, everyone). As Freddie de Boer wrote recently, the burden of increased state power "will inevitably fall on the poor and the black, because that is who the white police state prosecutes with greater zeal than any other."  There is no evidence whatsoever that laws against people guilty of crimes against children produces racial disparity and she fails to cite any only an attempt at prophecy from an article that has nothing with child pornography. She endorses de Boer's description of the US as a 'prison state' a term refering to  dictatorships with a entire populations treated like prisoners; the PRC for example. To describe a democratic republic as a prison state for having prisons is maniacally imbecilic as watching a Mayberry rerun and concluding that the deputies prove the US is a 'police state.'

Liz doesn't understand how liberals can see the "drug war" as "intolerant, corrupt, and overreaching" and believe the justice system can be "totally capable of handling other issues fairly."
Is it really so hard to grasp the difference between victimless like drug use and crimes that cause harm like child pornography? People who contribute to harming children like child porn users belong in prison people guilty of nothing but ingesting substances do not belong in prison. To conflate the two is to argue that child porn users do not belong in prison; direct support for child pornography and people who view it.

Brown hasn't proven anything but support for child porn addicts and the child porn industry. She deliberately tried to downplay the harm caused by child pornography and expressed opposition to any legal consequences for taking pleasure from the pain of child rape victims. Reason magazine has published content little different in essence from NAMBLA newsletters. Progressivism is being menaced by an anti-carceral left; people who made the leap from supporting prison reform and opposing prison for non-violent drug users to opposing incarcerating people who belong in prison; under that line of thought the early release of the Steubenville rapist was gloriously progressive.


Thursday, March 20, 2014

The Intercept Shills for a Taliban Thug

First Look media purports to be an titan of "original, independent journalism" when its really just a new tree house for Greenwald, Scahill and others in their little club. An article by Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain in defense of Moazzam Begg a pro-taliban hate monger suggests Pierre Omidyare's honeycomb hideout for the professionally enraged is off to a bad start. Almost any outlet proclaiming to be 'alternative media' will inevitably become a forum for fringe lunacy; that is what happens when defying the status quo is more important than reporting facts. To be fair first look could be worse at least there isn't an action news intro of Greenwald, Scahill and Hussain (yet).

Greenwald's idea of good journalism is a poisonous influence on the intercept; he approaches journalism as a lawyer; in other words to win an argument not report the facts. On twitter Greenwald defended Begg by linking to 'islam21c' a hate site which features praise for neo-nazi Gilad Atzmon and lauds people who committed genocide against Bangladeshis. Hussain is anti-Semite whose idea of good Jews are Neturei Karta who believe that Jews brought the Shoah upon themselves and recently ralled in support of the Jobbik neo-nazis. Hussain's idea of a good American is white supremacist Ron Paul, Murtaza denied Paul's racism and generally endorsed him. The intercept poses as progressive yet it defends a taliban thug with men like a Jew hater who supports a White supremacist.



The article on Begg resembles a defense attorney's statement more than journalism; the effort to prettify Begg is so delusionally contrary to reality and basic honesty that it could qualify as magical realism. Greenwald and Hussain described Begg as a wrongfully imprisoned victim who later became a 'human rights activist.' Moazzam has boasted about traveling to Afghanistan out of sympathy for the taliban and his support for them has grown; hence his call for the taliban to storm gitmo. They argue that Begg suffered torture, when he only claims to have been tortured; claims that lack evidence entirely. The article mentions Begg's writings, in his book he admitted to training at a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan run by Jamaat - e - Islam, which was involved in genocide against Bangladesh. After that he journeyed to other conflict zones and confessed to his meeting with "members of a European al Qaeda cell in 2000." Moazzam's pet cause has been campaigning for the release of Shaker Aamer wikileaks revealed that Begg outed Aamer as an al-qaeda recruiter.

The reader is treated to the pornogaphic spectacle of describing cageprisoners as an incomparably noble human rights organization on the basis of no evidence other than cage prisoners' site which blames 911 on Jews. By that standard of evidence NAMBLA is a premier human rights organization, parapsychologists have proven that ESP exists etc. Cage prisoners exists to serve imprisoned members of the taliban and al-qaeda; the group's prisoners of conscience is one long list of terrorists like Sajid Badat, Abu Qatada. age prisoners' most prominent clients included Mahmoud Abu Rideh an Al-Qaeda killed in Afghan and Abu Qatada who attempted to incite murder of Jewish children. To paint cage prisoners as a human rights organization is an as obscene as describing Gudrun Burwitz's Silent Support outfit as a civil liberties organization and elderly care center.

Evidence for claims made by Greenwald and Hussain is either distorted or nonexistent not unlike proof for a focus on the family broadcast concerning human origins. Begg's claims of harassment by the UK state lack evidence entirely but are presented as fact in an entire paragraph. Moazzam's defenses about his Syria travels are conflated with truth; perish the thought that a man who visited multiple terror training camps would visit one in the Levant! The claim of MI5 involvement in his trip are trumpeted without proof; an allegation that should be received with skepticism since MI6 not MI5 would handle a matter overseas.

After treating the word of someone who sees nobility in taliban slavers as fact the authors try to prove hypocrisy by complaining "charging someone with "terrorism" offenses for allegedly helping rebels which the U.S. government itself is aiding and for whom intervention was advocated by the U.S. president." Rebels have not received any lethal aid from the US which was quick to black list Islamist groups in Syria as terrorists; so charges of hypocrisy fall flat. To conflate the entire Syrian opposition with hardline Islamists who target Syrians for torture and terrorist attacks is a classic pro-Assad apologist trope. Glenn believes that mass murder of Syrian Muslims can be dismissed by pointing to Al-Qaeda yet condemns US actions that actually target AQ as evil.

Syria does prove Greenwald's hypocrisy; he has been keen to justify any Islamist terrorist attack against the west and presents himself as a champion of Muslims. When the Oslo attacks were believed to have been Al-Qaeda's work Greenwald justified slaughter by writing that Norwegians "prompted" the attacks and brought it upon on themselves. By contrast Greenwald sees the death of a single man as uniquely tragic and unjustifiable; that man was Anwar Alwaki a possible successor for Bin Laden. Yet he remains silent about a dictatorship trying to kill as many Sunnis as possible; he refused to condemn Assad and endorsed apologia for the regime. The appeal of Muslims and any real or imagined Islamic extremism to Greenwald depends entirely on violence directed against the US and its allies.

The intercept goes beyond innocent until proven guilty; they believe that the UK government is guilty of conspiring against Begg until proven innocent. Without any proof the arrest is presented has vast state plot to sabotage Begg's 'activism' which has gone on for years. Either the people MI5-MI6-reptilian plot to destroy a taliban supporter's fraudulent preening 'activism' are lazy or Begg's supporters are desperately clutching at straws. After defining persecution complex fantasies as truth the article moved on to alleging that the arrest of a man for criminal activity is a blow against dissent, hysteria without evidence only the word of Nawaz Hanif; a cageprisoners supporter. Hanif argued that the entire thing was orchestrated to suppress a report; a nonsensical concept since cage prisoners' ability to release reports is unimpaired.

Next the reader is treating to frothing hysteria about governments plots to "to stifle political activism among those criticizing civil rights abuses as well as foreign military expansionism." As evidence they cite people like Tarek Mahenna who was convicted on terrorist conspiracy charges involving al-qaeda. The next 'victim' is Emerson Winfield Begolly who plead guilty to soliciting terror attacks against Jewish children and assaulting FBI agents. Readers are expected to seriously believe that heinous criminals were guilty only of "highly public expressions of dissent" which is a blatant lie; criminals acts do not become noble dissent when they are motivated by clero-fascism. The dishonesty suggests sympathy for their views there is no other reason to pretend that joining al-qaeda and trying to arrange daycare bombings online is free speech and an alternative to a drum circle.

The trend of conflating crime with free speech continues by citing imprisoning for sending money to Hamas as "dissent" and Hamas is described as "Palestinians deemed terrorists by the U.S. Government." To argue that Hamas are not terrorists and that people should be free to fund them proves sympathy for Hamas; especially since Greenwald condemned Peter King for similar support for the IRA. The fact that crimes are illegal is expected to accepted for the article's hyperbolic outburst that "aggressive political dissent among Muslims will not be tolerated and can easily be criminalized as "terrorism."" In other words "we're not free to join Al-Qaeda, solicit murder, assault FBI agents or fund anti-Semitic death squads, tyranny!"

Apparently "whatever animosity he (Begg) has felt has not been towards America but to the government which abused him." Begg's support for the taliban and al-qaeda is a matter of public record, he runs an organization that exists to serve al-qaeda and the taliban and celebrates American deaths in hurricanes and condemns American Muslims for foiling terrorism. Begg's website includes images of the president being lynched: the intercept has hailed a group with content identical to KKK sites as a human rights organization! Greenwald and Hussain have micturated down their readers' backs and told them its raining.

Even if it was true, what of it? To argue that Begg's lie of having no enmity towards Americans somehow legitimizes him treats the Afghan victims of the taliban as if they don't exist. The argument creates a hierarchy of life in which victims of taliban slavery and genocide (violence that Begg is complicit in) simply don't exist. That hierarchy is why First Look can pretend a pro-taliban attention hound is a victim for circumstances created by his choices while ignoring those who suffered solely because of choices made by men like Begg. That hierarchy is not limited to Greenwald and Hussain; its central to opposition to the Afghan war thats why GIs relieving themselves on dead bodies will be condemned but massacres committed by the taliban will be ignored by 'anti-war' activists.

Supposedly "government suppression of activists" and "dissent" is "expanding", their evidence? Victims of this the arrest of three people who conspired to attack politicians with molotov cocktails. They cite the detention Greenwald's own partner; a self serving contrivance since the UK rejected their legal action against the detention. Its also irrelevant since Miranda is not a UK citizen. Greenwald and Murtaza praise Begg and insisting that his arrest is "almost certain to further stifle political activism within the Muslim community and more broadly as well" yet their own article shows that isn't the case by displaying the shrill pro-Begg campaign.

Hyperbole is followed by dishonesty that the west uses " tactics are commonly condemned when implemented by authoritarian governments such as China, Egypt and Russia." If that was true the entire First Look staff would have been in prison a long time ago for criticizing Obama. Their nonsense also equates Begg to dissident in dictatorships, an insult to democrats in regimes since Begg is only comparable to torturers and thugs employed by China, Egypt and Russia. The man's entire identity revolves around his support for taliban slavers and mass murderers. An article filled with lies on behalf of a terrorist support network is not journalism it is mealy mouthed extremist propaganda produced by and for people who want to believe it. It proves little but sympathy for men like Begg who find utopia by turning entire countries into graveyards.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Counterpunch Defends Neo-Nazism

Counterpunch serves as a wax museum that displays 20th century totalitarianisms and the type of people attracted to it. For no entry fee at all an individual can recoil at a neo-nazi's praise for Pol Pot and denial of the Cambodian genocide. Tourists can also take in exhibits like Allison Weir's belief that the blood libel is historic fact to defend her claims of a non-existent Israeli organ smuggling ring. So many examples of human depravity and imbecility frozen in time to observe like any good freak show or horror museum.

The lunatic fringe are pathetically predictable; few people capable of creative thought join the far-left or far-right. Such ideologies attract mentally stunted people who seek meaning and find it in rejection of reason and morality. Any prominent action against logic and elementary ethics will inevitably receive vocal support from assorted degenerate ideological circles like counterpunch. Defenses of depravity are motivated by more than sympathy for savagery; exteremists are aware that they are a minority up against reality thus their clannish tendency to defend each other with ferocity rivaling outlaw motorcyle gangs. The average far-left or far-right ideologue will dismiss mass murder as a trivial issue that can be exonerated by pointing to something else but react with righteous fury against what he or she sees as a real inexcusable evil; a friend being criticized.

Hack comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala became the subject of controversy for inventing a covert third reich salute. Dieudonne's track record includes wishing that concentration camp gas chambers were still in operation and mocking the Holocaust with Robert Faurisson while wearing an SS officer's uniform. All of which makes Dianna Johnstone an ideal candidate to defend him. Johnstone's subcultural fame rests on her praise for Serbian fascism which includes denial of war rape. Her fame grew from a ridiculous campaign claiming that a rejection from a publisher violated her freedom of speech, it would be no exaggeration to say that she is the duck dynasty of the far-left.

Johnstone opened by denying the obvious about the quenelle and ridiculing the idea that a man who expressed desire for the Holocaust to be currently ongoing could be a nazi. She insisted that the gesture is simply an anti-establishment action that only means "F— the system." Except that Dieudonne defines the 'establishment' as a Jewish conspiracy to control France; by his own words it is an anti-Semitic symbol. (The notion of revolting against imaginary Jewish rules was central in NSDAP ideology.) Her denial prove nothing apart from her own racism she can be easily proven false by photos of people performing Dieudonne's gesture at Auschwitz. She concluded her denial by arguing that Jewish organization are part of the "system"; she defended an obvious anti-Semite by resorting to anti-Semitic Jewish control tropes.

Johnstone engaged in partial Holocaust denial of the Petain regime's role in the Shoah. She argued that French Jews "actually largely escaped the deportation during German occupation that expelled Jewish immigrants to concentration camps." Which is a boldfaced lie; the Petain regime actively sent native or immigrant Jews to their deaths without any pressure from the third reich. Johnstone only proved her anti-Semitism and nostalgia for French fascism.

Dianna described the Holocaust as a "state religion" calling the Shoah a religion is a classic neo-nazi trope, further affirming her Judenhaus. She bemoaned the "Gayssot Law" which "bans any questioning of the history of the Shoah, an altogether unprecedented interference with freedom of speech." There is a legitimate freedom of speech case to be made against laws criminalizing Shoah denial which is exploited by the far-right. Dianna has a long record of apologetics for dictatorships which crushed free speech; clearly her opposition to laws against Holocaust denial is rooted in sympathy for neo-nazism not free speech purism.

She whined that "France is the rare country where the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement against Israeli settlement practices can also be attacked as “incitement to racial hatred."" Vive le France! Thats one thing they got right! Johnstone attempted to legitimize anti-Semitism by arguing that " it is not hard for French people of Arab or African background to feel that the “communitarianism” that really has clout is the Jewish community." An example of the apologist tactic of painting Jew hatred as a legit expression of frustration against imagined Jewish prosperity or power.

After citing Norman Finkelstein who compared Hezbollah to anti-nazi resistance fighters she set the stage for further apologetics for Jew hatred. According to DJ the memory of the Holocaust has created a culture of self hating guilt which summarizes as "do you feel French?  Or German? You should feel guilty about it – because of Auschwitz." Utter nonsense: patriotic displays in Germany and France are common, its hard to avoid the impression that she conflated German and French fascism with German and French national identities.

Johnstone detailed how "Dieudonné transformed an old semi-racist “tropical” song, Chaud Cacao, into Shoah Ananas" which mocks and celebrats the Holocaust and "taken up en masse by Dieudonné fans." After having provided evidence that shreds her define of Dieudone she provided another example of her Jew hatred: she believes "that they are not making fun of the real Shoah, but rather of the constant reminders of events that are supposed to make them feel guilty, insignificant and powerless." Johnstone has only proved that she supports mocking and celebrating the Holocaust.

She concluded her wretched exercise in depravity with further justification for anti-Semitism by ranting that: "France has adopted laws to “punish anti-Semitism”.  The result is the opposite.  Such measures simply tend to confirm the old notion that “the Jews run the country” and contribute to growing anti-Semitism.  When French youth see a Franco-Israeli attempt to outlaw a simple gesture, when the Jewish community moves to ban their favorite humorist, anti-Semitism can only grow even more rapidly." Johnstone follows an anti-Semitic tradition by blaming Jew hatred on everyone but anti-Semites themselves and arguing that Jews bring anti-Semitism upon themselves. The true cause is human irrationality, bestial hatred and its proponents like Johnstone.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Cyber-libertarians for Child Pornography

In a discussion between co-idealogues Jacob Applebaum also known as "ioerror" asked if people are "horrified by how the US treats people like me?"  Which probably prompted a world's smallest violin concert since Applebaum asks for sympathy for imagined persecution while calling for legalization of child pornography. It also means that child pornography is sanctioned by those behind Tor. Jacob is not alone, Falkvinge's call for child pornography legalization received a warm welcome in hacktivist and cyberlibertarian circles.



Certain cyber-libertarians argue that child pornography laws could and/or are being used by copyright nasties to make it easier to control file sharing. Which is an immoral argument as it places one's ability to download dvd rips above victims of child pornography. Falkvinge's only evidence is an anecdote of a Danish anti-piracy person expressing hope that child pornography filters could be used to suppress file sharing. The comment was made years ago and our ability to download gossip girl remains unaffected so arguing that images of child rape must be legal to own lest the all mighty copyright lobby gets its way are false.

Similarly they argue that child pornography is used to justify surveillance and control of the internet, a strawman central to arguments against child pornography filtering.  Terrorism not child pornography, is the leading justification for internet surveillance.  People argue against child pornography by claiming its not a solution to CP but no one ever said it was the goal is to remove as much as possible. Filtering images of child rape helps internet freedoms by damaging arguments for a general filter.


Eric Raymond is a celebrity in hacker subculure who argued that "child porn must be de-criminalized - otherwise, the censorship that child porn laws legitimize will have worse effects than the porn." Laws against child pornography are not censorship to describe it as such is proof of only dishonesty. Raymond's process of "de-criminalizing child porn" includes legalizing sexual violation of minors.

After their daughter Rehtaeh's suicide the Parsons family called for harsher laws against child porn and stalking which Hacktivist guru Nadim Kobeissi described as "internet freedoms" which in his view should not be limited without a hint of empathy for the family, only scorn. Kobeissi's website "is being used by pedophiles to spread child pornography on the internet. Nadim Kobeissi knows about this, but is deliberately turning a blind eye." In other tweets he expressed opposition to efforts against child pornography viewing them only as attempts to impose 'censorship.'



Richard Stallman is another giant in hacker subculture; the "father and current maintainer of the One True Emacs."  On his blog Stallman revealed he wants "an end to the censorship of "child pornography"..." (Note the quotes around the words child pornography.) Tarek Shalaby is a blogger activist who rose to fame during the Egyptian revolution, he also supports child pornography possession. Shalaby doesn't "think they should censor anything, not even child porn. It's a principle."

Gary Lord, a former member of the neo-nazi allied Wikileaks party, tweeted his endorsement for legalization of child pornography. Lord also defended Holocaust denier Israel Shamir and claimed to have found "no evidence of anti-Semitism" in his writings. Maarten den Braber is "Digital Health Strategist | Speaker | Co-founder Quantified Self Europe and QS Amsterdam" who hailed a pro-child porn article as a "must read."  Kenneth Christensen an editor at a Norwegian outlet 'itbransjen' who concurred with Falkvinge that being unable to legally own images of six year olds being raped violates free speech.

The support for child pornography possession  is not limited to individuals since groups and outlets also joined in. The official twitter feed of  y combinator (a hacker forum) tweeted in praise of making child rape images legal . 'Hacker news' (not to be confused with chewing magazine) made no secret of their support for making an evil activity legal. The techy site 'cafyn' expressed belief that "mere possession of child pornography should not be made illegal." The fringe hate site 'before its news' endorsed the article describing Falkvinge as "spot on." A putrid anarchist site called "attack the system" lauded the article and had a very chummy exchange with Falkvinge in the comment section.

Michael Masnick argued that "these attempts to link filtering to child porn doesn't help stop the problem of child porn. In fact, it makes it worse." Masnick and others quoted a German group MOGIS an organization that only represents its members not the overwhelmingly number of survivors  worldwide who have not called for people to be able to legally enjoy their suffering. No evidence is provided for the outlandish fantasy that "it makes it worse" (therefore the claim must be dismissed) since child pornography legalize would cause the trade to explode without risk of incarceration for consuming the material.

Masnick expressed more anger towards Filtering and laws against child pornography than images displaying rapes of minors. He insisted that  "the way to deal with it (child porn) isn't through censorship and filters" his use of the word 'censorship' is support for possession of child pornography; it bestows legitimacy on child pornography.  Masnick described filtering child pornography as "censorship" meaning he believes that child porn possession and even trafficking should be legal. If someone calls for something to no longer be 'censored' that person believes it should be a legal activity.

He argued that the way is to "go after those responsible" which is already being done; critics complain that the FBI focuses too much on child pornographers. He tried to dress up his views as sympathy for victims by insisting that 'censorship'  "just drives them further underground." 'They' already are as underground (partly thanks to services like Tor) as they can go. Fear of arrest is more than enough to drive 'them' underground and child pornographer secrecy does not prevent authorities from making spectacular busts of child pornography rings.  Mike's entire article proves nothing other than his support for child pornography possession.

The views detailed in this article can only be partly attributed to individual depravity. Support for child pornography is a natural result of an ideology that places all state authority in the category of evil; if the state can do no right then laws against child porn have no legitimacy. Cyber-libertarians see authoritarian plots behind any tepid legal action, under that train wreck of thought anti-CP laws can only be a step toward Oceania. The best way to test an ideology is to examine how its order would protect innocents and the vulnerable; few ideologies pass that test.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

A Response to Attacks on Alan Johnson

Anything with moral authority with be mercilessly exploited by extremists and sanctimonious ideologues, an inevitability personified by the decision to let Tariq Ramadan give the London Orwell address. Extremists  appropriate moral authority and bestow themselves with imagined moral authority. If you want an example  look no further than shrill attacks on Alan Johnson for criticizing charlatan Tariq Ramadan by the blogs loonwatch and Bob Pitt's Islamophobia watch. Both blogs are outlets for people who are legends in their own minds and see themselves as warring against evil.

Pitt's loathsome blog has been established as a hate site, the Leicester Secular Society corrected identified it as "homophobic and anti-Semitic." Pitt has become notorious for praising for Hitler fan Yusuf Qaradawi (yet Billy Bob falsely accused others of being pro-nazi). Rational wiki described it as hate site that "just badmouthing anybody who criticises any aspect of the Islamic world" and documented how Pitt defended the illegalization of homosexuality. Muslims are hurt not helped by a man who defines bigotry against them as opposition to Islamic extremism as we can see from Pitt's insipid attack on Iranian democrats (a category including Shia clerics) as "Islamophobes."

There is much to critcize about loonwatch, it would require an entire article so I will focus on depravity that is only relevant to the topic. Loonwatch has condemned people as bigots for cross-posting and citing extremists which is more than enough to condemn them as bigots for cross-posting Pitt. They have cross-posted and praised taliban loving 911 twoofer Eric Margolis as a "favorite writer" and neo-Nazi 911 twoofer Franklin Lamb. They adore  and routinely cross-post Richard Silverstein who justified cold blooded murders of two Jews. Other people cross-posted and cited on loonwatch include Khomeinist Nima Shirazi who has ties to neo-nazis of veterans today and Allison Weir who believes the blood libel is historic fact.

Pitt and Loonwatch do not bother to engage with Johnson's arguments instead they libel him which only confirms Johnson's article, if he was so wrong and immoral they wouldn't have any need for ad hominem. A loonwatch blogger opens by placing Johnson into the category of  “liberals who have lost touch with what the ideas they positively stand for." It seems that the loon believes that a man like Pitt who defended criminalization of homosexuality as a true blue liberal, it must have taken restraint to avoid MLK comparisons. The loon dismisses the article as "slanders" which is projection since Pitt's rant is almost entirely slander and if that was true then Pitt and loonwatch would be able to respond to Johnson like adults instead of slinging insults.

Pitt opened by conflating criticism of Ramadan with hatred of Islam which shows extremists use false accusations of bigotry to serve any convenience. Bob believes that a less than worshipful opinion of Ramadan confirms that "Islamophobia has descended into complete dementia." Obviously thats a baseless claim that only merits dismissal as self evidently facile as alleging that criticizing Pat Robertson proves rampant anti-Christian hated. Loonwatch and Pitt defend obvious racism as legitimate discourse while casting criticism of Ramadan as bigotry against Muslims!

Pitt is a supporter of Jamaat-e-Islami and called for readers to "defend Jamaat-e-Islami against secularism" Jamaat-e-Islami has "pogroms against non-Muslims, ‘tribals’, and secularists." JEI took active part in the 1971 genocide which makes Bob a supporter of ethnic cleansing and loonwatch thinks he's a true liberal for that. Even the guardian condemned Bob Pitt for defending female genital mutilation by arguing "that Type IIa FGM is merely an "anatomical equivalent" to male circumcision." False equivalence to defend or dismiss FGM is misogynist trope bordering on cliche and to trivialize the horrors of FGM with language like 'merely' is proves stunning depravity and utter lack of empathy. Pitt has produced a multitude of articles defending Tablighi Jamaat; an ultra-conservative hate group and attacked an Imam as 'Islamophobic' for criticizing the group.

Loonwatch attempted to legitimize Al-Quds day (a spectacle of hezbollah flags and straight salutes) as "controversial" protests against "Zionism and the occupation of Jerusalem by Israel."  Loonwatch endorsed Seumas Milne's defense of the racist hate group Hizb ut-Tahrir based on the group's 'non-violence' that would also legitimize peaceful groups like EDL which LW campaigns against. Israel Shahak is a notorious Anti-Semite (praised by David Duke) who has blamed the Holocaust on Jews, praised pogroms and defended nazi law. Loonwatch though described him as "Israeli professor and human rights activist" defended him as a legit critic of Israel being tarred with false charges of anti-Semitism after citing him as a source repeatedly. The obvious hypocrisy of a site that dismissing criticism against an obvious anti-Semite combined with the blogger's infantile self pity only makes their baseless libel against Alan Johnson more unintentionally comical.

Its almost as hilarious as how Pitt moves on to describe Johnson as a man who "waved goodbye to rational thought" yes lets all take lessons on rational thought from a Stalinist defending a stoning apologist. Next Bob discussed Johnson's views on Israel as if they're a sordid secret from there Pitt makes the leap that Johnson criticized Ramadan ("poured out hatred") out of anger due to Tariq's pro-Palestinians views. Thats not an arguments, thats a claim that can only be validated with telepathy and since that doesn't exist Pitt's accusation must be dismissed. Johnson didn't mention Israel in his article he laid out his reasons in clearer language than Pitt or loonwatch such as Tariq's stoning apologia. Which explains why they avoided responding to his arguments, dealing with Ramadan's darker views would be far more trickier than lies and insults.

Friday, November 8, 2013

The New Statesman's JFK Conspiracy Theories

Once a leading UK paper the New Statesman has become an outlet for fatuous identity politics and toxic extremism. If you visit the site you will have to suffer material like Laurie Penny blasting football as misogynistic; I thought she would love watching balls being kicked in. The paper published an issue with the Star of David on a Union Jack captioned "a kosher conspiracy" the editor issued a non-apology but defended the issue's anti-Semitic content. They routinely publish extremists like Stalinist Richard Seymour or Hezbollah fan John Pilger who praised the Holocaust denier Gilad Atzmon as his idea of a good Jew in one of his New Statesman article.

The statesman published "Edward Snowden saw things he thought we, as Americans, should know. He valued the truth and thought you could handle it, says Alec Baldwin."  First Brand, then Baldwin at this rate Nicky Minaj will be guest editing next week. Celebrity status does not make someone's opinions invalid but Baldwin is a hysterical wreck whose views include praise for IRA terrorists and vicious homophobia.

Baldwin's opening paragraphing accused Obama of " attempts to silence, even hunt down, the press." Its a wild claim without evidence easily debunked by pointing to how journalists who broke the NSA stories are alive, well and free at home and abroad. Baldwin whines about what his fellow baby boomers experienced which seems like kids stuff compared to previous generation who endured the apocalyptic world wars and the great depression. Baldwin's generation enjoyed unprecedented prosperity while creating obstacles for coming generations.

Alec painted a sorry picture of "rampant obesity running throughout the country, gun laws that border on madness." Alec avoided mention of decline of obesity and violent crimes, in fact violent crime is rising in Europe along with support for neo-fascism. He expressed belief that "the Vietnam war and the assassination of President Kennedy" have "kept us in a type of karmic stall and prevented the US from growing into what it might have been."  Beliefs can be a nice thing but they have no place in non-fiction which depends on evidence and facts not "karmic stalls" whatever the dickens those are. After mourning Kennedy without mention that he got the US into Vietnam Baldwin went full retard. Alec's beliefs include the claim that "we still don’t know who killed" JFK.

He described the reality of the JFK assassination as one of the "the greatest lies any society has ever been asked to swallow in the name of moving forward in order to heal itself." He continued to reveal his nature as a deluded conspiracist: "no sane person believes Kennedy was killed by one bitter ex-marine. To be an American today is to accept this awful truth and to live your life with unresolved doubts about your country as a result." Context matters, the bulk of JFK conspiracy theories have been entirely debunked and the idea that a vast conspiracy in the FBI, Mafia, CIA - all prone to leaks.


                                                 Baldwin's Magic Mullet

According to Baldwin "Kennedy died because a hell-bent confluence of anti-Castro, pro-interventionist Vietnam war architects." I disagree with him about much but we have one thing in common we're both fans of American Tabloid, I just understand the distinction between fact and fiction; the same cannot be said about Alec. He insisted that "anyone with eyes can see that Kennedy was shot from the front" a statement made years after digital tech confirmed that Oswald acted alone.  Baldwin claimed that there is a fifty year history of "destroyed or altered records and vital evidence" the utter lack of evidence condemns his words as fantasy.

He continued to explain that his JFK trooferism is a motive for his support for Snowden, which doesn't put Snowden fans in a very credible light. Similarly Icke fan Alice Walker expressed her allegiance to Snowden, her praise was endorsed by Glenn Greenwald without mention of her anti-Semitism. Like a LARPer Baldwins wraps up his article by posturing against imaginary evil: "in honour of the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination, I stand for truth." Even open sewers like Al-Jazeera usually attach a pathetic, unconvincing  disclaimer at the end of insane articles unlike the New Statesman's staff who probably seem to think that JFK was  a documentary.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Tor, Its Advocates and Child Pornography

Hacktivism has grown from an outlet for outraged millennials to a political force due to Assange, Snowden and others. While the subculture enjoys support from diverse ideologues hacktivism is distinctly libertarian and even anarchist, hence the coinage cyberlibertarianism. Similar to laissez fair cultists hacktivists believe an inherent goodness only one that is possessed by the internet and its innovators instead of the free market.
Apart from imagined goodness hacktivism fosters a strong persecution complex, people are expected to believe that rape charges against Julian Assange are a plot to render him to gitmo. Handmaidens to hacktivism like Peter Ludlow expect his readers to accept his fatuous fantasy that Aaron Swartz helped save us all from an Orwellian state by cowardly throwing himself a necktie party.

The aforementioned attributes contribute to a void of self-honesty and inability to take criticism that combined with a hatred of all government authority explains rage directed at federal actions against TOR. That marks a low point in the hacktivist subculture since the crackdown was directed chiefly against child pornography, yet its presented with as a blow to privacy, freedom and so on with barely any mention of child pornography.

Extremists usually ignore whatever human rights violations stand in the way of their causes, thats why the internet is polluted with people arguing that NATO is the chief cause of Afghan civilian death with a straight face. TOR fans who remained silent about the service hosting child pornography either ignored child pornography or downplayed it, the guardian mentioned it once. Richi Jennings produced a shrieking article insisting that "TOR attacked by NSA/FBI: Feds curb freedom over child porn." There's nothing new about the FBI methods employed, they do not have greater power so its false to claim that they have somehow "curbed freedom." In fact the FBI is experiencing an all time record weakness.

Other TOR fans ignore child pornography entirely, Erika Murphy squealed like a stuck piglet about how  TOR "stands tall against NSA." Murphy views hosting and protecting child pornography is a fair price to pay for inconveniencing the NSA. It would be more honest if she had written "please die child porn victims you're in the way of cybertopian pet issues." The article describes how TOR is supposedly unaffected, so what are they whining about?

Child pornography is not an accident of TOR, if we accept the project's hype it stands to reason that they could impose some measures against child pornography. According to Joshua Froust some 'cypherpunks' "were protecting child pornographers on TOR: they think viewing the sexual exploitation of children is an inherent right, even if it infringes on the rights of those children." Another journalist described how TOR anonymity "empowers the consumers of this content such that they are shockingly open about their activities: Tor-protected chat rooms have names like PedoBoard and Lolita Network, and database sites voluntarily flag themselves with warnings of “pedo content” or “loli porn.” When reporters refer to child porn rings that operate online, they are speaking about these places."

Jacob Applebaum is the face and leader of TOR which makes it hard for TOR fans since Jacob supports child pornography and believes that child pornography should be legal. On twitter Applebaum endorsed pro-child pornography spew written by Rick Falkvinge which features standards tropes of the pedophile movement that have become cliches. The article could pass as a NAMBLA newsletter: fear mongering about free speech and talk of sultry barely legals who should be free to sexually experiment etc. the whole thing was masterfully refuted here. Rick's article featured pathetic arguments with little merit, but Jacob believed them because he liked it.

Jacob described it as the "article that I will cite from now on" and that he has "argued these points many times and I have literally had people spit in my face for saying it. So kudos for writing it up." Which reveals his narcissism, he believes his hurt feelings caused by reactions to his support for child pornography matter unlike the voices of victims.

According to Applebaum the "key problem is the rape of children - censorship and surveillance rarely, if ever, stop that problem. At great societal cost." There is no solution to the rape of children, no way to stop it forever. Jacob's proposal would only increase rapes of children by legally sanctioning ownership of child pornography which would blossom. His argument about surveillance is comically false: surveillance methods are the leading cause of ending child porn rings anyone vaguely familiar with such investigations knows that. What censorship? The only conclusion is that Jacob sees laws against child porn as censorship.



In the comments of Rick's article Jacob agrees with him and parrots Falkvinge's strawman article of equating child pornography to videos of murders which is nonsense. Rapes committed by child pornographers are done so for the expressed purposes of viewing; there is not a single example of murder being committed to do record and profit from that recording. They deliberately ignore why child porn is illegal while a murder victim is in no way violated by a recording of his or her death the rape of chilren is magnified tens times over by having it recorded. The victim will spend his or her entire life haunted by the fact that pieces of their souls are traded by strangers violating them repeatedly. Applebaum and others ranting about the TOR crackdown fear monger about 'privacy' yet they do not extend that right to victims of child pornography who are raped again and again by having images and recordings of their suffering enjoyed by deviants.

 Recordings and images of child rape are produced for people who want to possess such material obviously without the risk of incarceration the market would explode. Jacob and Rick have vocally argued in favor of child pornography growth, only a complete simpleton would fail to realize what would happen if they were to get their way. What would happen if the law enforcement methods opposed by Jacob and Rick came to an end? It would allow people who produce child rape material to easily evade the authorities; tacit support for people who produce child rape images.

Applebaum has been described as "cyberspace's most dangerous man" or an "activist." He is none of those things. Jacob Applebaum is a facilitator of child pornography, an online pimp who runs a criminal enterprise posing as a privacy tool. Yet Tor defenders fail to acknowledge that child pornography openly exists on the service founded by a man and that its believes that child rape image possession should be legal thus making children's bodies into commodities; a sort of cyber slavery.

Since people in democratic nations enjoy privacy rights there is no reason other than paranoia or illegal activity to use Tor especially since the service is supposedly excruciatingly slow. There are countless privacy tools to relieve fears of people who check under the bed for NSA ninjas come to spy on their cat memes; so we do not face a choice of Tor or the highway. If we entertain hyperbole about Snowden's revelations affirming that we live in a closing society (which is as ridiculous as proclaiming that this little fella proves that we live in middle earth) then that means that critics have a duty to work for change through the democratic system not hang on crime drenched darknet boards.

Tor defenders argue that the serviced is used by dissidents in oppressive dictatorships echoing similar narratives like cyberutopian delusions that facebook toppled Mubarak. Even if we accept such claims as fact the FBI and NSA have not prevented people in other countries from using the service. There is little evidence to suggest that TOR is used by dissidents in Iran or PRC or similar despotisms and its easy for those regimes to shut off access to Tor. The service's development director Karen Reilly dismissed such arguments by openly admitting that "we are not a democracy promotion tool."

Hactivisim is a toxic ideology as it has no place for protection of the  innocent. Their concept of freedom is the right to impose one's will on the vulnerable, that is the mindset behind the abominably ludicrous idea that anti-child porn laws are censorship. Cyberlibertarianism has become seen as alternative to the status quo, any viewpoint with a predatory distortion of liberty and a lack of protection for children's rights is illegitimate and will only lead to ruin and stagnation. The internet has given voice to many evils but the idea of "privacy for me but not child pornography victims teeheehee" is particularly monstrous.