Racism of low expectations

When I was in my final year of my Media and Sociology degree course at what is now Leeds Trinity University, I did a module on contemporary media representation.  It was part debating chamber and part cultural Marxist propaganda.  At the time one of the most contentious issues was Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. I remember that time really well and the tutor (Dr John Short, rest  in peace) was putting forward the idea that the book should not be published because Muslims in Bradford would and did protest violently against it.  Hence the 'rightwing' media would portray the protesting muslims as knuckle dragging fascists, who called for the violent death of Rushdie.  The materials we were given all put the muslim side of the story and the tutor gave many reasons why it should not be published.

Even back then I had my doubts about this module and indeed, left ideology as a whole.  First, the media only portrays what is actually happening.  If the muslim protesters, which included the future head of the muslim council of Britain Iqbal Sacranie, did not incite Rushdie's murder then the media would not portray them as savages.

The course's tutors believed that the publishers should have self-censored because of the way muslims would react and the media would portray muslims badly and hence lead them to be stereotyped by society as a whole.  However, not once did the tutors mention that it was up to the protesters and muslims in general on how they should behave.  It is a fact that incitement to violence is a crime but the police did nothing about it.

This leads me to a fascinating term by conservative commentator, Michael Gerson, known as the 'racism of low expectations'. This form of racism is found purely in the cultural Marxist left.  It is the idea that certain groups need to be held to a lower moral standard, which is pure racism.  In the Rushdie case, it was the muslim community or to the precise, the muslim anti-Rushdie protesters.  By holding them to a lower standard, it implies that society in general gives in to their demands, no matter how regressive or reprehensible they are.  Further, it makes those communities act on it, for example, muslim leaders have warned that if the UK government did not change parts of its foreign or domestic policy then there would be 'reprisals' or 'repercussions'.  We also saw this after the Ferguson shooting whereby black community leaders warned the police there would be more riots unless the police reformed its 'racist' actions.

The left's reality problem 3

The root cause of the refugee rape and sex attack crisis that is happening across Europe is that refugees come from societies where women are held in very low esteem.  In fact if you not a muslim male in a muslim country your life chances are seriously diminished.  It is very well known that a woman's testimony is worth a quarter of that of a muslim male and a non-muslim's testimony is worth half that of muslim.

The left either ignores this fact or plays the whatabouttery card.  This is where for example, equivalent crimes by white males are brought up to show that sex crimes come from all communities.  For example during the Rotherham scandal, the Cornwall paedophile scandal was brought up where the culprits were white English males.  Or more recently the issue of the sex assaults that take place during Oktoberfest was mentioned to counter the events in Cologne.  This idea that crime comes from all communities is true but what the ignores is the comparative scale of the problem between the different communities.  For instance, in the UK, muslims only make up 3-5% of the population but statistics show they make up 30% of child sex cases.  In Germany right now, shops selling pepper sprays are seeing record demand from women and here the cause quite clearly due to the refugee policies.

The left's reality problem 2

Following on from my previous post, the left's reality problem stems from a fear of criticizing or judging non-western cultures especially Islamic culture due to be judged as racist.  Therefore this racist label has been a gag on discussing issues such as Sharia law in the west and also immigration. This has been true in the recent mass rapes that happened in Germany during the new year's eve celebrations.  At first newspapers such as the Guardian were reluctant to report it and when it was making the news in all media, the Guardian's columnists started blaming women, the media and possible racism against migrants rather than the terrible sex attacks.  Instead the Guardian ran the story about West Indian cricketer Chris Gayle chatting up a female reporter and citing that as the worst excess in sexism. Worse was the comparison of the Cologne rapes with stories about how the odd woman is groped at the Oktoberfest and on a Saturday night out.  This was leftwing whattaboutery at its finest, somehow we cannot complain about migrant rapists when European males also commit rapes.

This is a continuation of this left wing meme, basically sexism is bad if it is only committed by white males, if it is committed by non-whites it is excused and always the worst of white male behaviour is mentioned as a mitigation of migrant behaviour.

I remember before the Rotherham rape scandal, the English Defence league talked about muslim rape gangs and leftists mocked this by calling the gangs, muslamic ray guns to ridicule some right winger's speech impediment.  This is not only mocking the EDL but also the victims of these attacks in Rotherham.

The left's reality problem

During the migrant crisis the media has been drumming the need for Western nations to take in more and more refugees.  We have seen various harrowing images of drowned children, women and children in liferafts who have escaped several warzones etc, but strange that according to even the most reliable figures most of the refugees are fit young men.

The reasons for accepting the refugees are summed up below

• The west's colonial history.

Somehow modern day Europeans have to pay back the excesses of their forbears.  This is part of the post-colonial guilt trip that I read about.

• The west is responsible for these wars

To a limited extent yes, US and Uk have been heavily involved in Iraq and Afghanistan for example.  However, a large percentage of the refugees head for places like Germany and Sweden, which have had little involvement in recent wars due to constitution (Germany) and political neutrality (Sweden).  The main source comes from Syria and that conflict started when Syrians started protesting against Assad, the west only got involved when IS came along.

• The west has all the world's resources

This is an old canard, its true that large amounts of resources flow to the west, but this is all to do with trade, it is all paid for.  In fact in recent years, the world's resources have been flowing towards China.

• Refugees enrich us with their culture and even add to the economy

Whether foreign cultures can enrich the west is a hotly debated point.  I don't see Chinese, Iranian or whatever non-Western society suddenly deciding it needs cultural enrichment.  As I will point out later it is this cultural difference that leads to problems.

So there you have the left's arguments and I will put the counter point in my next post.

Daxter

Every now and again, you come across a game that makes use of the Sony PSP's graphical and control features.  One such game is Daxter. This is a third person action adventure beat'em up game with a bit of shooting and vehicle controlling.  Your control Daxter who works as a pest controller killing bugs with is swatter and later on a bug gun. Daxter, is an ottsel, half otter half weasel.  Despite his parentage he cannot swim and falling in water results in his death.  What is unique about this game is that you can access a first person view so you can see things from his perspective.

Like all games of this type, there is a global objective, and here it is find his friend Jak.  The game is set in a futuristic scenario of flying cars, man eating bugs and humanoids who have evolved Shrek like pointy ears.

I give this game 9/10.

How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog by Chad Orzel part 2

I don't usually review books until I have finished reading them but I will make an exception with How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog by Chad Orzel. To me this is the best primer to quantum physics I have read so far, due mainly to Orzel's witty style and uncomplicated explanations of very complicated material.  Although he does not delve very deep into each area, he provides a good understanding before tackling more academic books on the subject.  Even subjects such as decoherence and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle are explained to help the layman understand what they are.

David Bowie RIP

I heard the sad news this afternoon, I am very privilleged to have seen him play live 20 years ago.  He has gone to the starman in the sky. Thanks David Bowie, let the children boogie.

How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog by Chad Orzel

After finishing my quantum computing book by John Gribbin, I have bought the Kindle version of How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog  by Chad Orzel.  Here Orzel tries to communicate the intricacies of quantum physics through a mythical conversation with his pet dog.  I guess the dog will have a few questions for him. I will post more about this book after I have read a bit more.

Finally finished reading Quantum computing for cats

Yesterday I have finally finished John Gribbin's 'Quantum computing for cats'. A very good book if you want to know the history of computing and indeed about quantum physics itself, unfortunately the quantum computing was only found in the last chapter.  He mentioned the various experimental techniques now used to create these quantum computers such as ions, nuclear magnetic resonance and even using photons.  I think the technology is still too new to merit any more content, and I will give this 6/10.

Rome Total War

Has anyone out there defeated the Romans whilst playing as the Carthaginians in Rome:Total War and Rome Total War 2?

Patapon

After completing Medal of Honor and Call of Duty on the PSP, I went back to an older game in my collection, Patapon.  This is a rythmn based game where you direct a group of tribal pixel characters by playing a drum beat using the X, O, square and triangle buttons on the PSP.  The goal of the game is simple, keep to the rythmn, if you lose it then your pixel characters stumble and wait for you to get the rythmn back again.  By doing you so, you help your characters hunt animals and kill baddies.  Despite having graphics that won't look out of place on a Spectrum and the very simple gameplay it is one of the best ever PSP games ever written and it even spawned 2 sequel games.  If you successfully string 10 drum beat chords together, you will be in 'fever' mode and this is where I lose the rythmn.  Looking at various forums (some dedicated only to the game), it seems I am not the only one.  It is an incredibly addictive game but also very frustrating.

Bang! The complete history of the universe

During my week off, I went back to reading about astronomy again and bought myself the kindle version of Bang! The complete history of the universe by Patrick Moore, Chris Linnott and Brian May.  It introduces alot of particle physics, especially in the first chapter which deals with the nano seconds after the big bang, where everything was hot and the only particles were sub sub atomic ones.  At that stage not only atoms didn't exist but neither did protons, neutrons and electrons that made up the atoms.  So far I have read 20% of the book and I will post some more later.

Happy new year

Happy New Year everyone! I was a away for a week and in that time I managed to complete Call of Duty:Roads to Victory on my PSP on the earliest level.  It was easier than Medal of Honor on the easiest level. However the graphics and sound effects were great, if only if the gameplay was as good as MOH.