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10:59 am
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public lying and free speech
any watching abelard's work in uk.politics.misc over the last few days may well be surprised。 there is now a sucinct summary on the abelard news site：
Having thought on the recent case of David Irving, I can now state that I have very little problem with the judgement of the Austrian court. I have very little problem with the jailing of this ‘poor old man’, boo hoo, for deliberately lying about clear historical facts.
I have little problem because David Irving’s lies are obviously confusing vulnerable, uneducated people.
And that I am fully convinced he knows full well he is lying, and that he is lying with the direct purpose of confusing and swindling the intellectually weak.
This case has absolutely nothing to do with ‘free speech’. It is about public lying. it is worth reading the whole thing *with care*。
abelard's approach to ethics has always been pragmatic rather than dogmatic， something that many in the present society appear to find extremely difficult to grasp。 like many libertarians， i have never bothered to think much on laws like the austrian one criminalising holocaust denial， but have nevertheless had a knee-jerk distaste for them。 despite this distaste， i have yet to think of a hole in the logic abelard is presenting， nor have i seen any hole from those on upm who have chosen to object to abelard's case， nor from those elsewhere objecting to the jailing of irving。
i have much sympathy with the idea of treating public liars as criminals。 [note that abelard is so far talking about a tiny subset of public liars: those where the lie can be in no reasonable doubt (eg "the holocaust never happened") and where the lie is used in an attempt to spread or rehabilite a [numerically and consequentially] serious mental/social poison (eg national socialism)]。 nor can i see any argument against the pragmatic case。
those who cite free speech as an objection for laws of this type will often say that it is better that the views are public so that they can be publicly taken apart。 such people also often say that jailing the liars will only give more attention to the lies and liars。 these two positions are clearly contradictory： if one is publicly exposing the lies， one can not be avoiding giving attention to the liars。 i have never had much sympathy with the idea that we should avoid giving attention， unless by that one means avoiding taking them seriously。 the answer to idiocy is light， mockery and facts。 i see no contradiction between this a putting a public liar on trial。
like abelard， i am amused by the poetic justice in the irving case： irving afterall attempted to use uk law to silence those that pointed out his lies。
Current Mood:  tired
Current Music: [none]
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03:47 pm
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uae buyout of p&o, why do we care?
the us government has given approval for a uae state owned company to buy p&o。 p&o owns some us ports， though the us government runs port security。 the uae is a unequivocal us ally in the fight against jihadi nuisances。 the uae is far and away the biggest financial centre in the muslim world， no doubt due to the relatively open and tolerant nature of its society。 it also happens to be a largely muslim and arab country。 that last is apparently sufficient reason for many - right from moonbat left through to fundie right - to take exception to the deal and the us government's acquiescence to the deal。 i've yet to see any sort of case for the panic。
frank j takes on the mantle of "president khalifa bin zayid al-nuhayyan of the united arab emirates" and explains why there is no need to get all het up about this deal：
Yes, I cheered for a moment at the deaths of so many infidels... until I remembered how much business we do in New York! My country has a huge per capita income, but it's honestly not the most solid in the world. Implications of us involved in terrorism could knock us over the edge, and, if you took a poll of our citizens, you'd see a near majority consider economic stability more important than mass murder. As much as I want you all to die, we have our own housing bubble to worry about over here. Do any of you understand that? Sometimes I think I'd have to use a pipe bomb to get through your thick skulls.
And honestly, how many of you knew your ports weren't owned by Americans before all this? I swear, if any of you raise your hands, I'll cut them off. None of you knew anything about the ports until the talking heads and harlots jumped on this issue, and suddenly all of you are like, "Oh no! The Arabs are going to run our ports and they want to kill us all!" Hell yes, we want to kill you all, but it's not like we could fit that in our business plan. Have any of you looked at our business plan? Of course not. Holy Allah, I so want to strangle you all!
All I want you stupid infidels to understand is that this deal is all business. All thing being equal, I would stab you all repeatedly and then behead you, but that is not a money making venture. this article effectively demolishes what little argument， other than "they're not white"， the panic-mongers are providing。 there may yet be real problems with this deal， although i would expect such problems， even if they exist， to be dwarfed by things like the inevitable incompetence of the government 'run' security：
At least one of the ports where DP World is set to operate, Baltimore, has been dogged by security shortcomings for years. A Baltimore Sun investigation in June 2005 revealed that the port's fiber-optic alarm system on the perimeter fence malfunctioned and was usually switched off, and that port police were so understaffed that their patrol boats often dry-docked because there was no one to operate them. The newspaper also found that a pair of "video cameras" guarding the entrance to one important marine terminal were actually blocks of wood on poles.
Last summer, a tour of the port, the nation's eighth largest, revealed gaps in perimeter fences, unattended gates, surveillances systems that didn't work and insufficient police patrols on land and sea. one could almost suspect that the sudden focus on this non-issue is a deliberate attempt to distract from the real security problems that are not being dealt with。
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
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05:00 pm
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so mr.muslim, where do your allegiances lie?
the australians look like they may move to follow the new zealand example of demanding oaths of allegiance to tolerance from muslim immigrants。 here's the treasurer：
"Rather than try and censure me ... they should make a clear statement that they subscribe to all of these views - that they are loyal to Australia, they respect the rights and liberties of others, they believe in democratic government and they believe that all Australians should live unequivocally under the one law made by the Australian parliament - and endorse these values and recommend them to their followers," Mr Costello told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
"Pledge themselves unequivocally to these values first of all, and then call on their followers to pledge themselves unequivocally to these values.
"This is what I would invite them to do, rather than to criticise me because all Australians should in my view subscribe to these values." the prime minister (howard) is backing him。
i continue to be amazed by how few sane muslims are opening and vocally stating that their loyalties lie with free tolerant societies and not with the jihadis。 as i wrote elsewhere today：
it amazes me that the sane muslim responses are as yet so tame and few..
it's as if the sane ones haven't yet cottoned onto the fact that if they
continue to let their not-so-sane brethren escalate, they themselves will be
given no quarter alone with their nutty 'friends'. they don't seem to grok
the extent of the danger staring them in the face. if the sane muslims should
once let this situation go over the brink, i would expect muslim populations
to be systematically wiped out across the western world.
this apparent unawareness amongst the sane muslims worries me far more than
the spineless behaviour of the pols and fossil media, although the two are
obviously interrelated. these oaths are in any sane muslim's interest。
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Robbie Williams - Old Before I Die
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