kimmy

As I mentioned in another thread, I'm not sure what further steps Mr Wolfe ought to have taken, or whether calls for his resignation were justified. I have no interest in attempting to defend everything anti-racism activists do. I find some of it pretty ridiculous. However, none of this stuff could be described as "microaggression", and that's what I was pointing out above. -k

Regarding point 6, it must be pointed out that you and ISIS have very different ideas of what "innocent" means. As far as fundamentalist wackos are concerned, the people who were in that theatre in Paris, drinking alcohol and listening to rock music-- those people weren't innocent. They were in a "haram" place doing "haram" things. They weren't innocent. Regarding point 10, as an atheist I take no comfort in that at all. -k

And again, I'm not just talking about militants and terrorists (who I realize make up a tiny fraction of the world's Muslims). I am talking about people from places where the culture holds views that are contrary to Canadian values. For example: Just counting Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Yemen, over 130,000,000 Muslims live in countries where gay people are executed. Add in Egypt, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and that's another 430,000,000 Muslims living in countries where gay people can receive sentences ranging up to life in prison. That's over 1/3 of your 1.6 billion figure. I'd say 560 million qualifies as "many" by any measure. Do all the people in those countries agree with those laws? No, but that's the cultural norm in those countries. We could go through and do similar exercise regarding views of women, respect for secular laws, and tolerance of non-Muslims. I'm personally not very excited about the arrival of more people from places where I'd be considered inferior because of my gender, and where I could be imprisoned or executed for at least 4 different reasons. Does the experience of other countries with higher levels of Muslim immigration not concern you? -k

It might not be a "big" movement, but there are definitely US Christians calling for execution of gay people in accordance with "God's Law" as specified in the Old Testament. As I mentioned in the Republicans 2016 thread, some of these pastors held a big conference recently that was attended by Cruz, Huckabee, and Jindal. US Christians like Scott Lively were also involved in promoting the "Kill the Gays" law in Uganda, again in the name of Old Testament morality. I guess it's a matter of how you define "big", but these are pastors with congregations who go to hear them each week and pay tithes... I think the biggest difference between the Bible and the Quran is that most followers of the former reject the more heinous aspects of that text, while many followers of the latter clearly don't. -k

Nothing about Tim Wolfe's resignation has anything to do with "microaggressions". Students were protesting because they thought he had failed to respond to a series of racist incidents on campus. The incidents in question weren't "microaggression". Smearing a swastika onto a dormitory wall using human excrement, racial epithets being shouted at black students and staff, and celebrating Black History Month by dumping loads of cotton balls in front of the Black Students Center... that stuff isn't "microaggression", it's flat out racist aggression. -k

I don't doubt that it happened. However, I'm not sure what the big deal over the costume is. It might be an ethnic themed costume, but it doesn't seem to be referencing any negative stereotype as far as I can tell. I don't get upset when I see people in Viking Halloween costumes, German people don't get mad when they see people dressed in dirndls or lederhosen on Halloween... If we were talking about somebody dressed in blackface or a tar-baby outfit or doing a caricature like Mickey Rooney's Breakfast At Tiffany's thing... obviously everybody would recognize that as offensive. The costume as pictured, though... I don't get what the issue is. Is it the hat? But here, once again as I keep mentioning, having more information is helpful. If she'd known beforehand that this was offensive, she would have been spared the awkwardness. And discretion is also helpful... I personally wouldn't have worn that costume in the first place. Also, "microaggression" isn't a catastrophe. It's a miscue. An apology at most is the correct response. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that this might offend someone. I'll know better next time." You guys keep acting as if people are claiming these are outrageous acts of malice and demanding harsh punishment. No, nobody is claiming any such thing. -k

I just assumed that you weren't aware of that website's reputation. But for the most part Alex Jones/Infowars/PrisonPlanet make money by exploiting the very stupid. His subscribers are very stupid or mentally ill people. Saying so isn't microaggression, it's just aggression. These people are morons. -k

I wouldn't want to bring in a bunch of fundamentalist Hasidic Jews from Israel or even from Williamsburg New York. I wouldn't want to bring in a bunch of fundamentalist Deep South Baptists. If war broke out between Arkansas and Mississippi and we had tens of thousands of dumb-ass southern rednecks wanting refuge in Canada, I'd be worried about that too. Luckily I don't anticipate dumb-ass southern rednecks or Hasidic Jews swarming into Canada in significant numbers. -k

Typical Infowars. Link to a real newspaper article, then write a bunch of crap that isn't supported by the article, knowing full well that most of your readers are too stupid to bother to check the source themselves. I wouldn't trust anything from that site. There's plenty of room for debate on whether the university president's resignation was warranted... it seems that there have been a number of racist incidents on the campus, but I'm not exactly seeing what Mr Wolfe was supposed to do that he didn't do. -k

Reread what I wrote. I am not claiming that moderate Muslims don't exist. I am pointing out that moderate by Middle Eastern standards vs moderate by Canadian standards are two different things. I'm aware that there are Canadian Muslims who hold liberal, diverse, pluralistic views. I am aware that there are even some Middle Eastern Muslims who hold liberal, diverse, pluralistic views. However, they are greatly in the minority and are often persecuted for their views. Turkey and Jordan appear to stand out as being more civilized than their neighbors, but overall these are very socially conservative countries. And when you bring in people en masse from socially conservative countries, you shouldn't be surprised when most of those people turn out to be socially conservative. -k

Not all change is good, and there are some things I'm simply not willing to compromise on. Our hard-won rights and freedoms is one, and the safety and respect that gay people have attained in our country is another. ... Regarding the proposition that any male is equally likely to commit rape, I reject that. The Scandinavian countries have been finding for years that Muslim immigrants commit a vastly disproportionate amount of rapes, to the point that Muslims are now receiving mandatory education on the subject when they arrive. This Norwegian woman, who works with immigrants, basically says it's not their fault because they just don't know how to act around women: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3297021/Migrants-Denmark-mandatory-sex-education-lesson-consent-woman-allegedly-raped-three-Eritrean-men.html I have more to say, and I'll return to this after work. -k

Yes, I appreciate that Muslims who grow up in Canada tend to hold more modern values than those who grow up in the Middle East. But we're not talking about bringing Canadian-raised Muslims into Canada, we're talking about bringing Middle Eastern Muslims into Canada. Mayor Nenshi seems like a great guy, but he's not representative of the kind of views you'd find wandering the streets in most Middle Eastern countries. -k

I met a girl at a party this summer and without asking her directly, I found out within 2 minutes that she was a student from Taiwan. I mean, this stuff isn't rocket science. -k

Not really a big Vikings fan, although my grandparents were Minnesota Swedes, so I kind of culturally identify with both Minnesota as well as Vikings. I just thought it was worth mentioning that they're the hottest team in the league aside from the Pats and Panthers. -k

So your vote is with "silent D"? -k

Given his earlier comments regarding the filthy homosexual faggots with dirt under their fingernails, I'm not inclined to think this is a guy who deserves the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the shit that comes from his mouth. -k

You're a real bad-ass. -k

It might not be your "problem", but you shouldn't get mad if it rubs people the wrong way either. -k

People thought that was "epic"? I thought it was one of the biggest steaming loads of reeking dog-turd I've ever seen. I guess people just didn't get enough of Sorkin's baby-boomer masturbatory self-congratulation from "West Wing". -k

That might be what you mean by that question, but somebody who gets that question constantly by people who want to know if she's Chinese or Korean will probably have a much different impression. -k

After watching the video, do you really think he said "horde"? Was the "D" annunciated at an audio frequency that only canines and Conservative apologists can hear? -k

I guess I'm Islamophobic. I mean, I'm not terribly worried about the risk of terrorism or that sort of thing. I am just not a big fan of Islam in general, and I'd prefer a country with fewer Muslims, not more. As long-time members know, I'm not a big fan of any religion, and Islam is the worst of the bunch as far as I can tell. Overall, completely ignoring the issue of terrorism, I just don't see that more Muslims would be a good thing for the country. Usually it's the opposite. More Muslims usually means more problems. We've seen this in many European countries. Aside from the superficial, like opening a shawarma stand in your town, what do Middle Eastern immigrants have to offer? Gay bashing, gang rape, hate speech, synagogue arson, stone-age attitudes... what's the upside? I know that people are promising "no no, these guys are moderates! They're leaving their countries because they don't want to live with the likes of ISIS or the Taliban anymore!" Well, "moderate" has very different meaning in the Middle East vs in Canada. In the Middle East, a moderate is somebody who thinks that homosexuality or atheism should be punished with jail time instead of execution. -k

Tom Lukiwski, everybody, the only guy in Saskatchewan who pronounces "horde" with a silent D. He said it, he knows he said it, and he's not sorry he said it. He also said "There's A's and there's B's. The A's are guys like me, the B's are homosexual faggots with dirt on their fingernails that transmit diseases." He said he's really sorry he said that as well. Is he sorry he said it? Or is he just sorry that he got caught saying it? That isn't a guy telling an off-color joke. Those are the words of a guy with hate in his heart. The only thing he's really sorry about is that his bosses won't let him tell those filthy little faggots what he really thinks of them. And he's sorry he's not allowed to say what he really thinks of Karen Purdy either. -k

Stunning news! Bobby Jindal has dropped out! Stephen Colbert marked the somber occasion with this touching retrospective on Jindal's ... uh, actually, Colbert plays the role of Caesar Flickerman in this Hunger Games inspired obituary. -k

Bengals! Drop the ball! Just two undefeated teams left! Packers! Lose to Detroit! Packers lose three straight! What! Is! Wrong! In! Wisconsin!?!? Vikings! Are! On! A! Roll! I'm typing like this so that you can imagine Chris! Berman! In! Your! Head! as you read. -k