Actually, I think he’s supposed to simultaneously be a marxist, a fundamentalist Muslim, an extremist black Chrisitan, and a Kenyan anti-colonialist. He is the first quantum president, in a superposition of conspiratorial states. Will he surrender to Al Qaida? Nationalize the Fortune 500? Declare war on the UK? Impose anti-white apartheid? Peel off the fake human skin and announce the Martian takeover? Nobody knows–you just have to wait till you take the measurement and he collapses into a single state.

The other lesson from this is the utter lack of morals of the powerful and connected. A bunch of “respectable, trusted” people took money to shill for the MEK, which is a cult with a history of terrorism (including against the US). Earlier, there were plenty of respectable, trusted, powerful people who took money from Gadafi to come give talks, and who then had nice things to say about him. Respectable publications were giving Assad glowing coverage back before the stink of the burning kids and rotting mass graves got too thick. And on and on.

Pretty amazing actually.

When I hear people parrot this “marxist” absurdity, I hear the results of complete brainwashing combined with a total inability to think critically.

Obama is a Marxist. If you believe this, you are a deluded fool.

The warning shot along with not shooting people in the back was a sign of civilized behavior. It demonstrated the willingness to your deadly force and give the person a chance to back off or give themselves up. As we are a post civilized nation warning shots are now illegal. People who continue to advocate them are living in the 19th century.

No one seems to mention the detail that the film is not hate speech and not incitement. It’s a drama. It shows people talking and doing things. Sure, it portrays certain characters in ways that piss off lots of people who are invested in those characters. The same could be said for the later Harry Potter novels! This is Salman Rushdie all over again, regardless of relative literary merits.

True, it’s important to acknowledge that it is taken as hate speech. I think this is the essence of the Epps article. (Even so, I usually respect Epps’ work a lot more than this.)

Really?

Just a quick quote from the article for those who didn’t read it:

“But the War on Terror, unlike other wars, will last as long as the government says it will. And, as the MEK episode illustrates, the scope of the War on Terror — the very identity of the Terror we fight — is a subjective matter in the discretion of the government. The compelling need the government cites to do whatever it wants is itself defined by the government.”

http://police4aqi.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/mere-allegations-of-massaging-a-student-are-enough-for-police-to-arrest-teacher/

Why the “warning shot?” Is that to make sure that you surrender the advantage of initiative to your attackers, or just to more readily identify yourself as a target for any who are armed? Or, is it to ensure that those who have begun threatening your life and destroying/taking your property will receive the benefit of their prior acts of aggression as a “freebie?”

I take a slightly different view on this. I would say that it’s appropriate for the owners of any property that the rioters are damaging to use force, including deadly force if the rioters don’t fuck off after a warning shot, but having the police do it makes me very uneasy.

-jcr

It seems to me that sophists posing as intellectuals have always been rejected by most people, since most people possess common sense. What’s happening today though, is that sophists publish their drivel in forums where it’s far easier for people outside their close circle of fellow sophists can speak up and say “bullshit.” Compare the circle-jerking that Keynes got to the rough-and-tumble that Krugman has to endure. Keynes could even toss off such heinous drivel as his full-throated praise of eugenics without anyone answering “fuck you, you pompous, autocratic piece of shit.”

The world wide web is a very different arena from the mentally stunted environment of “higher education”. There’s a bunch of naked emperors in the world, and today they are all exposed.

-jcr