Quickies: Pickup artist causes outrage in Australia, gender-based harassment on Twitter, and shifting religious beliefs in Brazil
- Pickup artist Julien Blanc leaves Australia amid outrage – That’s right. Australia cancelled the visa of an American pickup artist for being a violent misogynist. From Jack99.
- Nonprofit begins “unprecedented” partnership with Twitter to reduce gender-based harassment – The group, “has created a new harassment reporting form to document different types of harassment, which includes questions like, “Are you being harassed by a single person or by multiple people/accounts?”, “Do you fear for your personal safety due to this harassment? “, and “How many times have you reported this to Twitter?””
- Dramatic religious shift in Brazil as Evangelicals are rapidly overtaking Catholics – From Criticaldragon1177.
- Boudica: Your hero and mine – An interesting little history lesson for Friday.
- Cute Animal Friday! From nowoo, an orphaned baby otter that’s now being cared for at the Shedd Aquarium. And Mindy would like you to know that the most recent Nature was about a baby sloth named Velcro.
Wow. Bravo Australia. Too bad the US can’t shovel him off onto someone else. Except—thanks to the web—’Creeps Without Borders/Rapistes sans Frontieres’ will still carry on.
I’m going to give lessons on how to get people to give you money:
1) Ask people to give you money.
2) If that doesn’t work, they may be hesitant in front of other people. Get them isolated.
3) Try a confined space, like a blind alley or an elevator.
4) Make subtle comments about how their life would be better if they gave you money.
5) Like how their house or tank is very flammable and it would be a shame if it were to burn down.
6) Get some friends to surround the potential source of money, to show how popular you are and how giving you money can make them popular too.
7) Make sure some of your friends are big and armed, “for protection.”
8) If they say they don’t have any money to give you, have two of your friends grab the person by the ankles and hold them upside down and shake them to see if any money falls out of their pockets. If so, say “See, you did have money after all” and take it.
9) Out a window.
10) Tell them you know where they live…
11) Publish that info on the Internet.
12) Break into their house at night when they’re not home and take any money or other valuables you find.
13) Or when they are home. More intimidating.
Slippery slope? What slippery slope? They’re already at Lesson 8, or maybe even Lesson 11.
Yes, in Australia, sexual assault and rape is only OK for illegal immigrants held in offshore detention centres.
Oh, and for indigenous people.
And and and.
I’m just amazed we got it right for once.
To understand my sarcasm and anger here, you probably have to know that Minister for Immigration Scott Morrison, who is getting all the kudos for rightly cancelling the passport of this PUA scum, is the one in charge of Australia’s “Turn Back The Boats” policy, which puts women and children in offshore detention centres where human rights abuses abound.
Offshore processing of refugees was a stroke of genius, conceived in the early noughties by the Howard government, which resulted in a chain of virtual Gitmos – Nauru, Manus Island, others – except the inmates are innocents rather than terrorists.
The rate of processing is glacial and inmates are doomed to years of incarceration. It seems that few fucks are given because these people are generally regarded as “the other”.
I see this as a crime against humanity perpetrated by my own country.
.. and Bingo! Here is a great reference, straight off the press
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-11/un-committee-flags-concerns-about-australian-policy/5882190
Except the tide of comments has moved on in the 3 days the original comment was lost in oblivion (moderation??) so few will see this and fewer still will care. I think this is a pity as a bit of international condemnation could do some good here.
Thanks for sharing! The USA doesn’t have much better conditions, though. Women are especially treated really poorly.
Thanks, Marilove, I’m delighted that you saw this.
P.S Correction needed: “Stop The Boats” is a different policy from “Offshore Detention”. Both however are faces of “Somebody Else’s Problem”, that policy so well known and beloved by government officials since Pontius Pilate (probably going back to Oog The Oily in Cro Magnon tribal councils).
PPS I wonder historically if Gitmo inspired Offshore Processing or vice versa, since Dubya and Little Johnny were so tight? Maybe scope for some historical investigation there…