Anti-Semitism

[Pocket]

I do enjoy it when nazi sympathizers out themselves.

Funny thing is, that was only his second post. Which is one more than I was expecting.

 

[wonko the sane?]

... I thought you couldn't post in politics till you had a minimum post count of 100 or something, or was that only on the old boards?

 

[Wheelimus]

Old boards, I believe we lost that feature sadly. That or Kalidor removed it to try to up discussion in here. Dunno, memory is not my strong suit.

 

[Nevermore]

I have saved a screenshot as evidence in case the name ever comes up again elsewhere.

 

[abates]

From memory, you couldn't even see the Politics and Religion boards unless you had already posted a significant number of times. I would be in favour of it being reinstated, if possible.

 

[Anonymous X]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1613612105621438504

To nobody’s surprise, the UK National Union of Students (NUS) is revealed to be an antisemitic cesspit.

 

[Thylacine 2000]

Is there even someone to fire over this?

 

[Pocket]

There's always someone to fire. Even if the person you think should be fired has made it impossible to fire them, in which case you find who the hell let that happen and fire that guy.

 

[Ungnome]

There's also more than one way to 'fire' someone. Out of a canon is my favorite type of firing, but YMMV.

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1613612105621438504

To nobody’s surprise, the UK National Union of Students (NUS) is revealed to be an antisemitic cesspit.

I just saw this old comedy sketch and it reminded me of some of the issues of defining people by their religion (and/or confusing it with their culture/appearance).

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

Twitter sued over antisemitic posts left online.

Twitter is being sued in Germany by two groups claiming the social network failed to remove six posts attacking Jewish people and denying the Holocaust, after they were reported.

The posts were published after billionaire Elon Musk bought the platform in October 2022.

But his tweets, which now represent most of the company's communications output, have not mentioned the case.

Antisemitism and Holocaust denial are illegal in Germany.

They also violate Twitter's own terms and conditions..."

(Full Story: - https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64404590 )

 

[Ironbite4]

Oh goody. This is going to be interesting because Twitter has always followed local laws when it comes to something like this. But since Musk has been on board, they haven't. So what this trial's gonna do is finally set the record straight. Does Twitter need to follow local laws or is it truly a private public square.

Ironbite-you guys should know which outcome I'm hoping for.

 

[Pocket]

It also depends on how Twitter is operating. A company that big probably has offices all around the world, meaning it needs to have business licenses (or the local equivalent) in all those countries, which presumably means it is legally obliged to abide by the strictest laws of all of those countries combined. A site that is based entirely in the US, and happens to be accessible worldwide simply because that's the default state of the internet, has no such obligations and the only recourse any other country could have is to block it. Which most civilized countries are loath to do both because it's such a nuclear option and because Only Villains Do That.

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

...A site that is based entirely in the US, and happens to be accessible worldwide simply because that's the default state of the internet, has no such obligations and the only recourse any other country could have is to block it. Which most civilized countries are loath to do both because it's such a nuclear option and because Only Villains Do That.

Even US-based internet services (will have to) follow the local laws of non-US states and/or do so for the entire global service as a matter of course:

- https://www.brookings.edu/blog/tech...-the-doors-for-the-eu-to-step-up-on-internet/

And the EU aren't "villains" for blocking any site or online service (American or otherwise) for not complying with laws designed to protect the public either:

- https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44614885

The US has been akin to the "wild West" for internet regulation, and it seems that many of the the laws and best-practices in modern day internet services have partly come from EU and other (at times) non-US regulation.

 

[Ironbite4]

It also depends on how Twitter is operating. A company that big probably has offices all around the world, meaning it needs to have business licenses (or the local equivalent) in all those countries, which presumably means it is legally obliged to abide by the strictest laws of all of those countries combined. A site that is based entirely in the US, and happens to be accessible worldwide simply because that's the default state of the internet, has no such obligations and the only recourse any other country could have is to block it. Which most civilized countries are loath to do both because it's such a nuclear option and because Only Villains Do That.

You have been paying attention to how Elon's running Twitter right?

Ironbite-I honestly doubt the European office of Twitter is even a thing right now.

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

George Washington University accused of ‘colluding’ with rightwing pro-Israel group.

An Arab professor and lecturer in diversity has accused George Washington University of “colluding” with a rightwing pro-Israel group over a federal complaint accusing her of antisemitism.

The group, StandWithUs (SWU), filed a complaint with the US education department’s civil rights office claiming that Lara Sheehi, an assistant professor of clinical psychology, discriminated against Jewish students by refusing to accept their definitions of antisemitism...

(Full story: - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...-university-standwithus-lara-sheehi-complaint )

 

[Thylacine 2000]

Sketchy article about a sketchy person.

The Guardian devotes its first nine paragraphs to acting like it's a story about some evil Jewish groups and settlers and whatever weird Communists are still lingering at Counterpunch magazine (no, really) before finally at last getting around to admitting, oh by the way, there are some pretty specific allegations of racism and subsequent departmental retaliation by professor Lara Sheehi. Her "diversity" course is required for psychology grad students at George Washington University.

Here is the actual complaint. People should read it for themselves and decide whether the claims against Sheehi sound bad.

FlippingBook Online

online.flippingbook.com

I include just one excerpt, there is far more that is worth reading:

A Jewish student noted that one of the books that the cohort had read said that it is important to understand that when people of color explain that an issue is about race, it is about race. The student requested that the same courtesy be extended to all groups when they say they have experienced harassment and discrimination. She asked the class to accept with equal validity claims by Jews who describe their experiences of Jew-hatred. The student also noted that it is important not to tokenize Jews who hold opinions that are outside the majority consensus. Most Jews, she explained, disagree with the position that anti-Zionism never constitutes antisemitism. Finally, the student said she felt unsafe in a program that would invite a speaker who endorsed violence against Israeli civilians and who, therefore, may celebrate the murder of her Israeli relatives. In response, Professor Sheehi called the student's comment "Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian".... Professor Sheehi never denied or dismissed the concerns of any other identity group in class, much less in such an aggressive fashion... or subject them to public vilification. She never invited any other speaker or encouraged student attendance at any other program focusing solely on one national or ethnic group, as she had invited attendance at the program which disparaged Israelis and Jews.

Seems like a crybully trying to use DEI as both her spear and shield, bashing Jews while casting any complaints as Islamophobia.

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

There seems to also be a letter, sent to the same institution, which has defended the professor:

"...During the fall 2022 semester Professor Sheehi was teaching a required but zero-credit (i.e. non-GPA weighted) course, “Diversity I,” for doctoral candidates in the Professional Psychology Program, which is intended to prepare students for professional practice. At the first class session following Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s talk, several students complained that they felt unsafe as Jews because the talk had characterized certain practices of the Israeli state as racist. In response, Professor Sheehi used that day’s class session to discuss how to foster an environment in which differing viewpoints could be expressed while attending to the responsibilities of clinicians. There is no evidence that either Professor Sheehi or Professor Kevorkian-Shalhoub engaged in speech that can reasonably be characterized as antisemitic...

(Source: - https://mesana.org/advocacy/committ...ident-of-gwu-regarding-professor-lara-sheehi# )

I'm not sure how trustworthy the following link is, but it contains criticism of the Guardian's article linked above:

- https://camera-uk.org/2023/02/12/gu...ents-complaint-about-professors-antisemitism/

Here's an opinion piece about this, with one part I found interesting:

-

...Professor Sheehi should not be cancelled for her tweets. That would be an affront to free speech. She was exercising her legitimate and protected right to freedom of expression on a personal social media account. But it seems like unbecoming language from a representative of the APA. Sheehi also appears to be speaking about all Israelis, not just Zionists. And while it is within one’s rights to oppose Zionism, to hear a professional psychologist claim that all Zionists suffer from mental illness and are psychotic seems to indicate that she will not treat patients or students fairly if they disagree with her political views. And to pathologize political adversaries arguably falls under misuse of influence, which is explicitly prohibited by the APA Code of Ethics. In addition, Sheehi refers to herself online as a psychoanalyst although she does not have this qualification, which is also a direct violation of APA ethics...

(Source: - https://areomagazine.com/2023/02/07/antisemitism-at-the-apa-the-case-of-lara-sheehi/ )

Not really related, but I found it interesting that I couldn't find any BBC coverage of this. I thought they covered most international news?

 

[Anonymous X]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1625786149556871168

I don’t like Starmer, but this is a good move. The taint of Corbyn needs removing from that party.

 

[Teufel]

Kind of interesting that Corbyn's own (former?) party is working hard to keep its distance from him while a few weeks ago across the pond Bernie Sanders and Rashida Tlaib were happy to meet with him in person and virtually respectively.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1616166031059206162