As I’ve explained, this bill incorporates a conception — a “definition” plus potential examples — of anti-Semitism that conflates criticism of Israel’s founding and continuing abuse of the Palestinians with anti-Semitism for the purpose inoculating Israel from such criticism. Anti-Zionist Jews and others have objected to this conflation for over 70 years.
Tag: behavior
Defining Anti-Semitism, Threatening Free Speech
In May the benign-sounding Anti-Semitism Awareness Act appeared before the U.S Congress “to provide for consideration a definition of anti-Semitism for the enforcement of Federal antidiscrimination laws concerning education programs or activities.” No big deal? Let us see. S. 2940 is sponsored by Republican Sen. Tim Scott and has four co-sponsors: Republican Lindsey Graham and…
Your Existence Matters, but Your Work Is Always up for Debate
Economic worth is not an opinion that you have about yourself nor is it an opinion that someone else has about you. It’s a social construct generated by your ability to influence other people’s behavior through strategic forms of value-creation.
Crossroads
We are at the crossroads. We are at a critical station. Will we decide to continue on down, down to the kleptocracy? For awhile, being a robust fledgling nation, we were happy with the richness of freedom without responsibility.
Fake News II
It is an irony that a man, a man without a lot of substance, a man made by the media, is now POTUS. It is a further irony that we are at this pass because the media manipulated the man, while the man manipulated the media. Both sets of manipulation continue.
Nicer Than The Alternatives
I shun cops and would probably shun politicians if I ever had the opportunity. Especially state-level politicians. I would probably be flexible on more local levels, depending on how enthusiastic a dirtbag they happen to be. I’m willing to chalk up some bad behavior (archation) on their part to ignorance and brainwashing.
The Voluntaryist Premise
Once a person adopts the label of voluntaryist (or the like) for their political identity, they assume, with good reason, the following premise: human suffering is terrible and should be prevented; aggression and coercion necessarily create human suffering. This premise leads the voluntaryist to hold a number of hypotheses with varying degrees of accuracy in some form or fashion within their minds at all times. Here are several of those hypotheses.
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
We don’t even know where to start, but the idea of making machines like humans is bonkers. There at least 3 disparate ways to go. Shall we replicate the way that the human brain works? Shall we fool disinterested observers into mistaking a machine for a human? Shall we quit playing games and get on with a peaceful coexistence between homo sapiens and the machines that she builds?
Social Credit Ratings Won’t Work
Social credit rating systems like those portrayed in Black Mirror and The Orville are not built on objective, verifiable facts. Quite the contrary; they are built on subjective, unverifiable opinions.
People Leave if They Can, And You’re People
The criticism spewed at supposedly “illegal” immigrants (they aren’t, and never were) betrays a disgusting level of hypocrisy. The story of humanity is a story of migration, to all corners of the world. What motivates people to leave the place where they were born in search of something better?