Cancel Culture

[billy.pilgrim]

Well, if we all got off our collective high horses for a bit, we'd admit that though her comments were crude and unadvised, that she has a valid point. People do get killed for a variety of reasons every day - sometimes by the cops, but more often just doing their job that is as if not more dangerous than the cops.

F'rinstance:
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/ ... y/2851742/

Cops check in at #22.


https://www.ishn.com/articles/112748-to ... ted-states


I wonder how much overtime pay the taxpayers are on the hook for with these million man funerals.

[Vrede too]

A cancellation that Faux Noise and other cons will never complain about:

NYC actress fired after rant over Jason Rivera funeral: Streets closed 'for one f------ cop'

... "We do not need to shut down most of Lower Manhattan because one cop died for probably doing his job incorrectly," she said. "They kill people who are under 22 every single day for no good reason and we don’t shut down the city for them."

She continued, "Like this is f–----- ridiculous. This is f–----- ridiculous. What if somebody is having a heart attack in this area? Nobody can get to them because it’s all blocked off for one f–----- cop." ...

Well, if we all got off our collective high horses for a bit, we'd admit that though her comments were crude and unadvised, that she has a valid point. People do get killed for a variety of reasons every day - sometimes by the cops, but more often just doing their job that is as if not more dangerous than the cops.

F'rinstance:
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/ ... y/2851742/

Cops check in at #22.

https://www.ishn.com/articles/112748-to ... ted-states

I wonder how much overtime pay the taxpayers are on the hook for with these million man funerals.

It's gotten totally out of hand.

Susan Sarandon
@SusanSarandon

New York State Assemblymember:


This is also what fascism looks like:


No masks, of course.

[billy.pilgrim]

Yet they continue to claim that cop misbehaviors and crimes are due to a few bad apples.

[Ulysses]

Well, if we all got off our collective high horses for a bit, we'd admit that though her comments were crude and unadvised, that she has a valid point. People do get killed for a variety of reasons every day - sometimes by the cops, but more often just doing their job that is as if not more dangerous than the cops.

F'rinstance:
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/ ... y/2851742/

Cops check in at #22.


https://www.ishn.com/articles/112748-to ... ted-states


I wonder how much overtime pay the taxpayers are on the hook for with these million man funerals.

Where's Social Media Administrator?

[O Really]

Well, if we all got off our collective high horses for a bit, we'd admit that though her comments were crude and unadvised, that she has a valid point. People do get killed for a variety of reasons every day - sometimes by the cops, but more often just doing their job that is as if not more dangerous than the cops.

F'rinstance:
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/ ... y/2851742/

Cops check in at #22.


https://www.ishn.com/articles/112748-to ... ted-states


I wonder how much overtime pay the taxpayers are on the hook for with these million man funerals.

Probably very little. It wouldn't be considered on-duty time for anybody who wasn't actually working - traffic, crowd control, etc., and those would be people already on duty. Of course, most memorials aren't as big as that one, but I'd say it would be more a matter of not being wherever they would otherwise be rather than overtime incurred.

[Ulysses]

Well, if we all got off our collective high horses for a bit, we'd admit that though her comments were crude and unadvised, that she has a valid point. People do get killed for a variety of reasons every day - sometimes by the cops, but more often just doing their job that is as if not more dangerous than the cops.

F'rinstance:
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/ ... y/2851742/

The last line in your link got me thinking:

"CAL/OSHA investigators are trying to determine if the accident was the result of mechanical or human error."

IMHO, such accidents are ALWAYS the result of human error. In this case, perhaps not on the part of the unfortunate worker who fell eight stories to his death, but human error on the part of whoever was supposed to make sure the equipment was set up correctly, maintained properly, etc. Scafffolding isn't rocket science, after all, and defects leading to tragedy should be detected and corrected before anyone goes up on one. And the human responsible for this could have been a human who decided to cut corners on safety to save a few bucks. I strongly suspect some human fucked up and this guy died as a result.

[O Really]

On the CNN show "United Shades of America" https://hd1.uscinemax.com/tv/play.php?id=66335-7-5
a minor part of the segment on South Asians addressed the criticism of Hank Azaria for portraying the Abu character on "The Simpsons." Interestingly, that criticism - and Azaria's subsequent dropping of his role - wasn't about the comic presentation of a stereotyped character, but that Azaria is a white guy, not South Asian.

Well, excuuuuuuse me! I may have addressed this sometime before, but I seriously thought these people were actors. "Acting" as in performance art portraying a character. I didn't know an actor could only play themselves. I guess they didn't notice that 10-year old male "Bart" is - OMG - a middle aged female!


And gay people have been whining about the portrayal of gay characters by straight actors. Horrors! Sure the writing or acting could be done in such a way it appears disrespectful, but don't these people realize that if that "rule" had been in place that if gay actors were limited to playing only gay characters, they wouldn't have gotten any work. F'rinstance, this famous and fabulously successful movie star would still be tending pools or something as Roy Fitzgerald.

[Vrede too]

On the CNN show "United Shades of America" https://hd1.uscinemax.com/tv/play.php?id=66335-7-5
a minor part of the segment on South Asians addressed the criticism of Hank Azaria for portraying the Abu character on "The Simpsons." Interestingly, that criticism - and Azaria's subsequent dropping of his role - wasn't about the comic presentation of a stereotyped character, but that Azaria is a white guy, not South Asian.

Well, excuuuuuuse me! I may have addressed this sometime before, but I seriously thought these people were actors. "Acting" as in performance art portraying a character. I didn't know an actor could only play themselves. I guess they didn't notice that 10-year old male "Bart" is - OMG - a middle aged female!

And gay people have been whining about the portrayal of gay characters by straight actors. Horrors! Sure the writing or acting could be done in such a way it appears disrespectful, but don't these people realize that if that "rule" had been in place that if gay actors were limited to playing only gay characters, they wouldn't have gotten any work. F'rinstance, this famous and fabulously successful movie star would still be tending pools or something as Roy Fitzgerald.

I saw that United Shades episode, excellent series. Actually, there was discussion of the Apu Nahasapeemapetilon character, how South Asians were at first thrilled to see any representation of their people. Later, they came to question whether being the butt of a stereotyped joke is a good thing. Here's Wiki's description of the issue:
Apu: Accusations of racial stereotyping
As you say, Azaria stepped aside and apologized. Idk whether there are other changes to the character.

I get your point re the broader discussion. However, I will make one distinction. South Asians, other minorities and open gays were underrepresented in the industry. From the blackface days to Charlie Chan (sometimes) to Yul Brynner in The King and I and so on, they generally were portrayed by White, presumably hetero actors. Part of the demand is to at least give minorities these roles. It doesn't necessarily follow that gays should be excluded from hetero roles.

Otoh, few actresses are able to maintain careers into middle age, so people aren't going to be too bothered that one is able to keep working as a 10-year old boy.

I don't think that anybody cared that gay Jim Parsons portrayed the nominally hetero Sheldon Cooper, but Sheldon's sexuality was so odd that I'm not sure if it counts. Then, there were Howard and Raj, both hetero irl and ostensibly in the show. Kunal Nayyar is even married to the former Miss India! However, Leonard's mother described them as being in an "ersatz homosexual marriage" . Maybe they could have been played by gays or heteros without anyone objecting.

Whatever, this debate will never be fully settled. However, I think it's a good thing that just the discussion has increased sensitivity and has thus opened up opportunities for minorities that often didn't exist before.

[O Really]

I still say give the gay people, straight people, trans people, asian people, black people, blind people, Downs people all roles they are best suited for. I don't have a problem with gay people playing straights or vice versa. I do have a problem with 5'8" Tom Cruise playing the very large Jack Reacher; changing the Lincoln Rhymes character to a Black guy; or trying to squeeze Carson Kressley into the role of James Bond. Or for that matter, casting a female "James Bond" as has been suggested. If you want to write a story about a female secret agent, go for it, but don't call it Bond, Jane Bond.

[billy.pilgrim]

I still say give the gay people, straight people, trans people, asian people, black people, blind people, Downs people all roles they are best suited for. I don't have a problem with gay people playing straights or vice versa. I do have a problem with 5'8" Tom Cruise playing the very large Jack Reacher; changing the Lincoln Rhymes character to a Black guy; or trying to squeeze Carson Kressley into the role of James Bond. Or for that matter, casting a female "James Bond" as has been suggested. If you want to write a story about a female secret agent, go for it, but don't call it Bond, Jane Bond.

What's wrong with a woman named James?

https://www.glamour.com/story/blake-liv ... -baby-name

Origin: James comes from the Hebrew name Jacob, and means “supplanter.”
Gender: James is traditionally used as a boy name, but it has become more common as a girl’s name, too. For instance, the daughter of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively is named James. There is also a fairly equal split between girls and boys named Jamie, a derivative of James.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/james-na ... ty-5186145

Movies actors are actors. Actors play many diverse roles, most roles are very different from the actors personal experience. Think Hamiliton.

[O Really]

Movies actors are actors. Actors play many diverse roles, most roles are very different from the actors personal experience. Think Hamiliton.

My point exactly. But the actor has to be able to make a good representation of whatever character s/he is playing. Voice actors should be judged on their voices, not their race, appearance, or degree of gayness. I think if you've got an asian character, you should hire an asian actor, but that's only to make the portrayal more believable. In some cases, gender, gender identification or orientation may not matter at all. Everybody who played "Peter Pan" was a tiny female, and they didn't hire a real fairy to play Tinkerbell. (as a matter of no interest to anybody, "Peter Pan" was I think the first film I saw in a theatre.)

[Vrede too]

What's wrong with a woman named James?

https://www.glamour.com/story/blake-liv ... -baby-name

Origin: James comes from the Hebrew name Jacob, and means “supplanter.”
Gender: James is traditionally used as a boy name, but it has become more common as a girl’s name, too. For instance, the daughter of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively is named James. There is also a fairly equal split between girls and boys named Jamie, a derivative of James.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/james-na ... ty-5186145 ...

I'm sold on a female JAMES Bond. Will there be sexy, one-dimensional Bond Boys?

Here's a different controversy. If we consider Scottish Sir Sean Connery to be the prototype, should we object to:
Australian George Lazenby
English Roger Moore
English Timothy Dalton
Irish Pierce Brosnan
English Daniel Craig

Carpetbaggers! Pretenders! Interlopers! Frauds!

I found this:

Background

Fleming wrote On Her Majesty's Secret Service while Dr. No was being filmed in Jamaica and was influenced by the casting of Scottish actor Sean Connery to give Bond Scottish ancestry. It was not until the penultimate novel, You Only Live Twice, that Fleming gave Bond a more complete sense of family background, using a fictional obituary, purportedly from The Times. The novel reveals Bond’s parents were Andrew Bond, of Glencoe (Scotland), and Monique Delacroix, of the Canton de Vaud (Switzerland). The book was the first to be written after the release of Dr. No in cinemas and Connery's depiction of Bond affected Fleming's interpretation of the character, to give Bond a sense of humour that was not present in the previous stories. Bond spends much of his early life abroad, becoming multilingual in German and French because of his father's work as a Vickers armaments company representative. Bond is orphaned at age 11 after his parents are killed in a mountain climbing accident in the Aiguilles Rouges near Chamonix.

After the death of his parents, Bond went to live with his aunt, Miss Charmian Bond, in the village of Pett Bottom (England), where he completed his early education. Later, he briefly attended Eton College at "12 or thereabouts", but was expelled after two halves because of girl trouble with a maid. After being sent down from Eton, Bond was sent to Fettes College in Scotland, his father's school....

All of these non-Scottish Bonds might as well be women.

[Whack9]

Downtown Atlanta music event cancelled because gun enthusiast ruined it for everyone because he wasn't allowed to be armed:

https://www.nme.com/news/music/pro-gun- ... es-3287066

In a new interview with Billboard, Georgia IT worker, author and vocal gun rights activist Phillip Evans recalled how, in the weeks before the cancellation, he warned a contractor hired to handle security at Music Midtown that “should any member of your security team accost a legal carrier of weapons … [then] your company (and any involved individual) could be sued for damages”.

“I urge you to honour and follow our state weapons law here in Georgia,” he added.

...

“There’s nothing in my blog, in my opinion, that indicates I celebrated the decision,” he added. “I would’ve actually been thrilled had Live Nation gone ahead and had the event and said that they were following state law.”

Describing himself as a “hardcore music fan” who “loves all kind of music from all eras”, Evans says that he wants Live Nation to “abide by a law”. He added that he wouldn’t rule out challenging the promoter’s weapons ban at its Georgia venues in the future, and that he “could” show up to a venue armed.

Already been discussed here, but the problem with allowing firearms into a crowded venue:

Bad guy brings a gun. Shoots someone. All the good guys come to the rescue and shoot. Problem: how to figure out who the bad guy is and who the good guys are in the mass confusion.

Also, the likelihood of a scuffle erupting into a full on shoot out increases exponentially. Especially given there's likely going to be alcohol available.

So no shit on the keeping weapons out of the venue as much as possible.

Guns are even banned at events chock full of fun rights activists - CPAC, the NRA, the RNC.

[neoplacebo]

Yep, there goes freedom. No guns at wingnut gatherings. Too dangerous. They totally miss the irony. On purpose.

[Vrede too]

Downtown Atlanta music event cancelled because gun enthusiast ruined it for everyone because he wasn't allowed to be armed:

https://www.nme.com/news/music/pro-gun- ... es-3287066

... Guns are even banned at events chock full of fun rights activists - CPAC, the NRA, the RNC.

Ammosexuals are bad for business. I'll bet the Atlanta economy just lost millions.

This asshole's an activist, but it sounds like any ammosexual can show up armed at any public park anytime, even when they're being privately contracted. The really bad guys here are the GA RepuQs, who I bet ban guns from the publicly owned Capitol. They need to be named and shamed at every opportunity.

Edit:

What are the security guidelines for visiting the (GA) Capitol?

All adults aged 18 and older must show a photo I.D. upon entering the Capitol. In compliance with security regulations, visitors must enter the Capitol through a metal detector; the X-ray machine must examine hand-carried items. No weapons, including pocketknives, are allowed in the Capitol.

Just as I thought.

Yep, there goes freedom. No guns at wingnut gatherings. Too dangerous. They totally miss the irony. On purpose.

They intentionally and consistently choose hotels and convention centers that ban guns. Funny that.

[Vrede too]

Victory for potentially violent Zionist Cancel Culture:

USC Faces Backlash Over Alleged ‘Censorship’ of Pro-Palestinian Valedictorian’s Speech

Her "crime" is linking a website that the Zionists don't like. They're not even attacking her expressed views and have no clue what the content of her speech would have been.

... Tabassum responded to the news of the cancellation of her speech in a statement, saying, “This campaign to prevent me from addressing my peers at commencement has evidently accomplished its goal.” She added that she was “both shocked by this decision and profoundly disappointed that the University is succumbing to a campaign of hate meant to silence my voice.”

Tabassum also said she is doubtful of the official reason—safety concerns—given for her speech’s cancellation “because I am not aware of any specific threats against me or the university” and “because my request for the details underlying the university’s threat assessment has been denied.”

Supporters of Tabassum have echoed her frustrations and accused USC of using safety as a pretext for censorship.

“USC cannot hide its cowardly decision behind a disingenuous concern for ‘security,’” Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA), said in a statement. “The dishonest and defamatory attacks on Asna are nothing more than thinly-veiled manifestations of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism, which have been weaponized against college students across the country who speak up for human rights—and for Palestinian humanity.”

CAIR-LA started a petition calling for USC to reverse its decision. “The university can, should and must ensure a safe environment for graduation rather than taking the unprecedented step of cancelling a valedictorian’s speech,” Ayloush said.



The Muslim Public Affairs Council, a national advocacy group, similarly denounced what it described in a statement as USC’s “suppression of free speech and academic freedom” and “capitulation to external pressures from political groups.” The group also said Tabassum’s “silencing” was reflective of a broader trend: “Nationwide, students advocating for Palestinian rights face undue censorship and are subjected to harassment and institutional pushback under the guise of maintaining order or neutrality.”...

I signed the CAIR-LA petition.