Private Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV Gulfstream IV-SP N345LC (cn 1442)
N345LC (cn 1442)
By: Rui Santos
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Private Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV Gulfstream IV-SP N345LC (cn 1442) - Video
Private Gulfstream Aerospace G-V Gulfstream V N16NK (cn 585) – Video
Private Gulfstream Aerospace G-V Gulfstream V N16NK (cn 585)
N16NK (cn 585)
By: Rui Santos
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Private Gulfstream Aerospace G-V Gulfstream V N16NK (cn 585) - Video
Bigelow Aerospace's Inflatable Habitat Ready for Space Station Trip
A new, inflatable addition to the International Space Station is ready for its close-up.
NASA officials viewed Bigelow Aerospace's Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) at the company's facility in Las Vegas on March 12. BEAM is scheduled to depart later this year for NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and then blast toward the station atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster.
BEAM's time attached to the orbiting lab should provide a key test for expandable space habitats, which represent a dramatic departure from traditional metallic designs. [Bigelow's Inflatable Space Station Idea in Photos]
"We're fortunate to have the space station to demonstrate potential habitation capabilities like BEAM," Jason Crusan, director of Advanced Exploration Systems at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement. "Station provides us with a long-duration microgravity platform with constant crew access to evaluate systems and technologies we are considering for future missions farther into deep space."
According to Bigelow Aerospace, the demonstration of expandable space habitat technology supports NASA's plans in the realm of human spaceflight, which ultimately lead to putting boots on Mars. Developing a deep-space habitat is an important step along the path to the Red Planet, agency officials say.
Founded in 1999 by entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, Bigelow Aerospace has as a goal the creation of a new paradigm in space commerce and exploration via the development and use of expandable habitat technology. Expandable habitats are viewed as offering dramatically larger volumes than rigid, metallic structures as well as enhanced protection against both radiation and physical debris.
Additionally, expandable habitats are lighter than traditional systems, take up less room in a rocket fairing for launch, and are seen by advocates as a less-costly alternative.
As an example, BEAM will measure just 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide in its packed configuration aboard SpaceX's robotic Dragon resupply spacecraft. Once is deployed and inflated, it will add an additional 565 cubic feet (16 cubic m) of volume about the size of a large family camping tent that is accessible to astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory.
NASA awarded a $17.8 million contract to Bigelow Aerospace to provide BEAM, which will arrive at the space station in 2015 for a two-year technology demonstration.
After the module is berthed to the station's Tranquility node, astronauts will activate a pressurization system to expand the structure to its full size using air stored within the packed module.
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Bigelow Aerospace's Inflatable Habitat Ready for Space Station Trip
The Aerospace Corporation Announces Leadership Changes
El Segundo, Calif. (Mar. 19, 2015) The Aerospace Corporation has announced leadership changes in the areas of Space Launch Operations and Civil and Commercial Operations.Randy Kendall will become vice president, Space Launch Operations, succeeding Ray Johnson who retires on July 1. Ed Swallow will join Aerospace as the new vice president for Civil and Commercial Operations replacing Kendall.With these leadership changes, we are positioned to expand into new markets, and provide innovative solutions that add unique value to our current and future customers, said Dr. Wanda Austin, president and CEO.Kendall will assume the position of vice president, Space Launch Operations, succeeding Johnson upon his retirement on July 1. Prior to this assignment, Kendall was vice president for Civil and Commercial Operations, responsible for more than $100 million in annual revenue from civil and commercial business. Prior to holding this position, Kendall was general manager of the Launch Systems Division. His responsibilities included leading Aerospace systems engineering support to the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles programs, as well as managing Space Launch Operations' support to NASA, the FAA, and other commercial programs.Swallow will join Aerospace on April 4 from Northrop Grumman Information Systems. There he held the position of vice president, business development for the Federal & Defense Technologies Division. Swallow led all business development activities across the division. He was responsible for developing win strategies for the divisions captures and for all activities associated with the identification, qualification, shaping and pursuit of new business opportunities with both current and prospective customers.In addition to his 12 years of experience with Northrop Grumman, Swallow worked for Steven Myers and Associates, Space Applications Corporation, Logicon Corporation, and most recently served as the president and CEO of Pegasus Strategic Advisors, LLC. In addition to his professional achievements, he has consistently Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematicseducation and development within local communities across the United States throughout his career. Swallow has a bachelors degree in physics and astronomy from State University of New York, a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Syracuse University, and a masters degree in systems management from the University of Southern California. He is a retired Air Force reserve officer and was the Air Force Academy liaison officer director for the Washington D.C. area.As vice president of Civil and Commercial Operations, Swallow will be responsible for ongoing programs and developing new business for the corporation. Key customers include the NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and a wide number of other civil and commercial organizations in the United States and overseas. In addition to his responsibilities in Civil and Commercial Operations, Swallow is corporate director of government relations.The Aerospace Corporation is a California nonprofit corporation that operates a federally funded research and development center and has approximately 3,500 employees. It provides guidance and advice to military, civil, and commercial customers to ensure the success of complex, technology-based programs. The Aerospace Corporation is headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., with multiple locations across the United States.
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Young People and Suicide
People Who Have Committed Suicide
Faces of Suicide - http://facesofsuicide.com/ Please click on the link and it will take you to the Website of those People Who Have Committed Suicide. Song N...
Faces of Suicide - http://www.facesofsuicide.com/ Please click on the link and it will take you to the Website of those People Who Have Committed Suicide. Th...
just to let all you people know that this girl is someone other than me that is beautiful in her own way .... no one should judge people that are different ....
Global suicide rates are rising. In order to understand what's going on, and how best to prevent this trend from continuing, Laci examines the underlying fac...
Like VICE News? Subscribe to our news channel: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News The Aokigahara Forest is the most popular site for suicides in Japan. After the novel Kuroi Jukai was published, in which a young lover commits suicide in the forest, people started taking their own lives there at a rate of 50 to 100 deaths a year. The site holds so many bodies that the Yakuza pays homeless people to sneak into the forest and rob the corpses. The authorities sweep for bodies only on an annual basis, as the forest sits at the base of Mt. Fuji and is too dense to patrol more frequently. Originally released in 2011 at http://vice.com Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Watch the last VICE Presents here: http://bit.ly/VICE-Presents-011 Subscribe for videos that are actually good: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE Check out our full video catalog: http://www.youtube.com/user/vice/videos Videos, daily editorial and more: http://vice.com Like VICE on Facebook: http://fb.com/vice Follow VICE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vice Read our tumblr: http://vicemag.tumblr.com
Visit Afterlife TV at http://www.AfterlifeTV.com WHAT HAPPENS IN THE AFTERLIFE TO PEOPLE WHO COMMIT SUICIDE? "In this video report, I cover the subject of su...
Faces of Suicide - http://facesofsuicide.com/ Please click on the link and it will take you to the Website of those People who have Committed Suicide. Song Name: Terence Jay - ''One Blood'' Please SUBSCRIBE to my Channel Page. This is a Video devoted to those who have Committed Suicide and have taken their own lives. Please RESPECT when leaving Comments in this Video. Please help stop Suicide. 33,000 people die from Suicide every year. We need to help and support each other. Remembering those who we have lost. ''Rest In Peace''
They all died!!!
One of the most important videos of time. Life is so valuable,but yet even how much we don't admit it we're all sensitive. The kindest littlest words to someone can change they're life:)
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Young People and Suicide
Clayton County students to compete at Georgia Science and Engineering Fair
JONESBORO Lovejoy High will be well-represented in the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair at the University of Georgia later this month.
Officials announced the school is sending four students Ayodele Foster-McCray, Joshua Ojo-Osagie, Jason Reyes and Dagm Behailu to compete among the states brightest young scientists-in-the-making.
Clayton County Public Schools will send several more to Athens March 26-28 to present their projects, including Jane Louangxay and Peace Olaniran, both of Jonesboro High. Drew Highs Georgia Antwi-Adjei will join the group, too, along with Wendy Vuong and Brittany Chopra, who are students at Stillwell School of the Arts.
They all received top prizes and awards from the recent Clayton County Regional Science Fair.
Behailu earned the Excellence in Computer Science Award while McCray received the Behavioral Science Award at the regional fair.
Fellow Lovejoy High students Allen Beatenbough and Jarad Dixon were recognized for Outstanding Earth Science Exhibit, while Louangxay received the Engineering Materials Award.
State representatives in the science fair middle school division include: Berenice Pinal-Zapata of Babb Middle; Vyvy Nguyen of Morrow Middle; Jasmine Sears of Roberts Middle; Lawrence Williams of Eddie White Academy; and Nia Lankford and Nia Douglass, both of Kendrick Middle.
Elite Scholars Academy will be represented by Chloe Vincent, David Egbuna and Theo Logan while Rex Mill Middle sends Mikelison Womack, Isiah Payne and Robert Smith Jr. to state competition.
Williams received the Engineering Materials Award. Egbuna earned the Outstanding Earth Science Award. Sears was awarded for Outstanding Physics Exhibit.
Smith earned the Outstanding Sustainability Award and the Clayton County Water Authority Award. Nguyen got the Plant Sciences Award while Jennifer Delgado of Babb Middle was recognized with the Women Geoscientists Award.
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Clayton County students to compete at Georgia Science and Engineering Fair
Cendaa: Young People and Suicide
THEY are young and they have left us too soon.
A Behavioral Science freshman died from drinking silver cleaning fluid a day after filing a leave of absence because of her failure to pay her tuition. She was 16 years old.
A Mechanical Engineering student shot himself with .38 caliber pistol, on his mobile phone was an apology to his family for failing to graduate. He was 22 years old.
A Physical Therapy freshman in a private school killed himself with a shotgun, he failed four subjects. He was 17 years old.
A fourth year high school student took his life in his family's house a week after her girlfriend committed suicide. He was 16 years old.
A Respiratory Therapy freshman hanged herself after she failed to take the mid-term examinations. She had difficulty paying school fees and boarding house rent. She was 16 years old.
These are the stories of Kristel, Daveson, Don Benedict, Jefferson, and Rosanna. They are young people we painfully lost to suicide in a span of two years.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that over 800,000 people die due to suicide every year. This translates to one death every 40 seconds.
The global suicide rate is 16 per 100,000 populations. In the Philippines, its 2.9 per 100,000 population. Suicide rates are said to be lower in the Philippines compared to other countries in the Western Pacific region.
However, it is most likely a case of under-reporting because of stigma and non-acceptance by the Catholic Church. According to a time trend analysis of suicide in the Philippines, incidence of suicide in males increased from 0.23 to 3.59 per 100,000 between 1984 and 2005. Similarly, rates rose from 0.12 to 1.09 per 100,000 in females.
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Cendaa: Young People and Suicide
Local students gear up for state science fair
The Fountain Hills High School science department recently held its second all-school science fair, hosting 147 projects presented by 15 classes of students.
All told, more than 450 local students took part in this years event held Feb. 27 at the high school gym.
Students were able to work in groups and present a project in one of several main fields, including animal life, behavioral, biomedical, chemistry, energy/chemical, energy/physical, material science, microbiology, physics and plant science.
According to science chair Dr. Paul McElligott, this years judges worked throughout the day and into the evening to take in each of the projects, finally revealing the 2015 winners at 8 p.m.
Receiving the highest honor of first place overall was Sabeel Khurram, Seth Aker and Austin Button on the topic of rocket fuels (chemistry).
Second went to Conner Nelson, Andrew Szweic and William Adams on the topic of UV radiation (material science). Third, on the topic of music and emotion (behavioral), went to Laura Anderson and Katie Laessig.
Awards were also given in the remaining individual categories.
Jordon Wodinski won for a project on blood splatter (biomedical). Ryder Worden won for a presentation on diesel fuels (energy/chemical). Rolan Hentz took top honors for a report on the battery (energy/physics).
These winners will go on to compete in the state event.
The science department would like to thank the students for their hard work and parents for their support, Dr. McElligott added.
Anti Aging Medicine 16 November 2008 part 18 – Video
Anti Aging Medicine 16 November 2008 part 18
Anti Aging Medicine 16 November 2008.
By: UI OViS
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Anti Aging Medicine 16 November 2008 part 18 - Video
"The Winter Boy" by Sally Wiener Grotta Nominated for the Prestigious Locus Award
(PRWEB) March 18, 2015
"The Winter Boy" by Sally Wiener Grotta is on the ballot for the highly respected annual Locus Awards. What makes this a particularly nice honor is that nominations for the award are made by book reviewers and editors. Then the general public is invited to vote.
...a great book... in the 'must read' category for anyone who enjoys a cultural fantasy... ~ Charline Ratcliff, "Seattle Post-Intelligencer"
Reminiscent of Margaret Atwood, Mary Doria Russell and Ursula K. LeGuin, The Winter Boy explores important political and social issues within a dynamic, character-driven otherworld. In The Winter Boy, a cloistered society of widows has forged a centuries-long peace by using storytelling, reason and sexual intimacy to train young men destined to be leaders. But a new widows first season with a problem boy erupts into conflict, anger and danger, when she uncovers a web of conspiracies that threatens his life and could destroy their entire society. And a winter that should have been a gentle, quiet season becomes one of conflict, anger and danger.
"An amazing, tour-de-force literary work completely unlike anything I have ever read.... People will be studying and talking about 'The Winter Boy' for years to come." ~ Wendy Delmater Thies, "Abyss and Apex Magazine"
"The Winter Boy" is available in hardbound, paperback and eBook (all formats) from most bookstores including iBooks, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and others.
Book reviewers and bloggers interested in receiving review copies and/or interviewing Sally Wiener Grotta should contact Cynthia Dadson, Director of Marketing & Communications of Pixel Hall Press (Cynthia[at]PixelHallPress[dot]com).
Sally Wiener Grotta is a consummate storyteller, reflecting her deep humanism and appreciation for the poignancy of life. As an award-winning journalist, she has written hundreds of articles, columns, essays and reviews for scores of glossy magazines, newspapers, journals and online publications. She has also authored numerous non-fiction books. Her fiction includes the critically acclaimed novel "Jo Joe."
Sally Wiener Grotta is a frequent speaker at conferences, universities and other organizations about storytelling, creativity, and the business of writing. She welcomes invitations to participate in discussions with book clubs (occasionally in person, more often via Skype, Google Hangout, or phone), and to do occasional readings.
Pixel Hall Press is a relatively new, old-fashioned small publishing house whose focus is on discovering literary gems and great stories that might otherwise be overlooked. Our mission is to publish books that energize the imagination and intrigue the mind, and to be a conduit between readers and provocative, stimulating, talented authors.
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"The Winter Boy" by Sally Wiener Grotta Nominated for the Prestigious Locus Award
#ModTalkLeaks: Censorship by Reddit Mods, More female character costume redesign critiques & Hotl… – Video
#ModTalkLeaks: Censorship by Reddit Mods, More female character costume redesign critiques Hotl...
We also discuss #changethecover, Ben Kuchera #39;s rant at Chris Mancil much more. -- Links of stories: Chris mancil Blog Post; https://archive.today/FqbLH More redesings: http://muddycolors.blogsp...
By: Roll Play Podcast
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The NDTV Dialogues: Censorship and Democracy – Video
The NDTV Dialogues: Censorship and Democracy
Censorship and democracy - are these two concepts mutually contradictory, or indeed is censorship in some form absolutely necessary to ensure the safe functioning of our democracy? We debate...
By: NDTV
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Censorship and shaming veterans needs to end
By Justin Evans
The Maneater reserves the right to edit letters and columns for style and length.
If movies like American Sniper can make a student feel threatened, then we have a problem. We have many veterans on campus. I am one, and I have many friends here at the law school that are veterans as well. Some of those veterans did jobs that were very similar to that of Chris Kyle personal friends of mine. Films like American Sniper are a good thing for those veterans, not because they tell a heroic story, but because they tell a more nuanced story than the John Wayne flicks of yesteryear. American Sniper isnt glamorizing war or colonialism. Its telling the real life story of someone who suffered a great deal because of the political decisions of this country, good or bad. "I feel unsafe" or "threatened" has become a weapon to use when someone with a bone to pick wants to get their way. Whether or not this student likes the wars in the Middle East (obviously she'd be in agreement with plenty of non-Muslims and even veterans in that regard), it's odd to me that we have such a problem with people giving an account of what a person actually went through in a conflict. As if this movie is contributing to something that isn't an immediate political reality anyway. Does the presence of our veterans on campus offend this student or make her feel threatened? Should those students be allowed to speak with pride about their service for fear that it would make a student feel threatened? It seems to me that the real problem here that this student simply doesn't like how positively Americans respond to stories like that of Chris Kyle. And if the presence of this movie on campus is somehow a threat to her, how does she ever make it anywhere outside of the confines of the University? It was a fairly big hit at the box office, after all.
Were living in a time when academics will write letters in support of taking down the U.S. flag at a federally funded university. Why? Because of colonialism, and because of shameful moments in American history. Many of the same excuses are used by this student. But despite moments in American history that are terribly shameful, are we really saying that we have to pack it in? Dismantle our pride in America as a nation? Take down the flags, get rid of the monuments, and tell our veterans that we are afraid of them for the jobs they did? Take a step back and think its okay to be proud of a flawed institution. Its okay to be proud of Chris Kyle as a veteran, while realizing that he was as flawed as any other human being.
Finally, and perhaps most sadly, this student has chosen to lecture the entire University on the boundaries of the First Amendment while attempting to censor a point of view that she simply doesn't like. What she's really saying is that the First Amendment only extends to points of view that everyone agrees are comfortable. Sorry, but I'm thinking she may not understand that the point of the First Amendment was to protect unpopular opinions and speech. Personally, I'm not in the business of avoiding truths because I don't agree with them, nor do I reshape reality and what other people can do or say to fit my "comfort zone."
What's funny to me is that students actually considered not showing the film. Whatever your political sensibilities, it should give you pause that "cultural inclusiveness" and "tolerance" are being used more and more as a mask for blatant attempts at silencing and censoring points of view that we disagree with. And that needs to stop. We should all be willing to let one another voice their opinions, no matter if we agree with them and no matter how politically popular they are. Thats a right that our veterans understand, and Ms. El-Jayyousi should too.
Respectfully,
Justin Evans, jme337@mail.missouri.edu
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Floyd Abrams: College Campuses Pose Greatest Threat to Free Speech
What is the greatest threat to free speech in America?
The question was the subject of a lecture this week at Temple University Law School delivered by Floyd Abrams, long one of the nations most prominent First Amendment litigators.
Mr. Abrams, a partner Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, points his finger at academia. Heres an excerpt from his remarks, which were posted online by legal blog Concurring Opinions:
[P]ressures on freedom of expression and all too often the actual suppression of free speech comes not from outside the academy but from within it. And much of it seems to come from a minority of students, who strenuously and, I think it fair to say, contemptuously disapprove of the views of speakers whose view of the world is different than theirs and who seek to prevent those views from being heard. The amount of students who will not tolerate the expression of views with which they differ is less important than the sad reality that repetitive acts of speech suppression within and by our academic institutions persist and seem to grow in amount. And that is shameful.
Mr. Abrams highlights a number of a recent examples of recent campus speech controversies, such as the one that flared at University of California-Irvine earlier this month after student leaders there sought to ban the display of the American flag from a campus lobby.
He also talks about the decision last year by Brandeis University to offer and then withdraw an honorary degree to a human-rights advocate and former Dutch lawmaker Ayaan Hirsi Ali because of her criticisms of Islam.
And Mr. Abrams recounted last years free speech fight at Rutgers University involving former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who reversed her decision to give a commencement address after her selection as speaker drew protests from some students and professors.
Mr. Abrams concludes:
What can one say about this other than to quote from the statement of the American Association of University Professors that, in the clearest language,observed that [o]n a campus that is free and open, no idea can be banned or forbidden. No viewpoint or message may be deemed so hateful or disturbing that it may not be expressed. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. put it well, when he was a Harvard undergraduate before the Civil War and was a student editor of Harvard Magazine. We must, he wrote in 1858, have every train of thought brought before us while we are young, and may as well at once prepare for it.
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Floyd Abrams: College Campuses Pose Greatest Threat to Free Speech
Jury says Phila. district violated ex-official's right to free speech
After four hours of deliberation, a federal jury Tuesday night said a former Philadelphia School District official was wrongfully suspended and lost his job for exposing a $7.5 million no-bid surveillance camera contract.
The jury found that the district, former Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman, and a former top lieutenant had retaliated against Francis X. Dougherty because he told The Inquirer and federal and state authorities that Ackerman steered the no-bid contract to a small minority firm, IBS Communications Inc., that had not been approved for emergency work.
The panel, which heard five days of testimony, said the district, Ackerman, and Estelle G. Matthews, a former top human resources official, had violated Dougherty's First Amendment right to free speech by placing him on leave in December 2010, then recommending his firing.
The School Reform Commission voted in April 2011 to fire Dougherty as acting chief of operations.
The jury concluded that while Dougherty's right to free speech had been violated, the district had not broken Pennsylvania's whistle-blower law, which bars employers from retaliating against employees who allege wrongdoing.
For the First Amendment violation, the jury awarded Dougherty $1 from each of the defendants who had wronged him: the district, Ackerman, and Matthews. The trial judge will rule this month on additional damages.
Throughout the trial, Dougherty's attorneys argued that Ackerman and her administration embarked on a mission to find out who was leaking information after The Inquirer published an article on Nov. 28, 2010, that said she had pushed aside Security & Data Technologies Inc. (SDT), a Bucks County firm that had begun preliminary work on a rush contract to install surveillance cameras in 19 schools the state had deemed "persistently dangerous."
The defense maintained Dougherty lost his job after outside attorneys who conducted an investigation for the district said he had sent an e-mail about the camera project to an unknown third party and improperly sent 50 e-mails from his work account to his personal account.
The defense said that the recommendation to fire Dougherty was not tied to anything he might have told anyone about the camera project and contended that the district would have moved to fire him regardless.
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Jury says Phila. district violated ex-official's right to free speech
Video Game Censorship and Freedom of Speech an Interview with Jon Festinger, Q.C. – Video
Video Game Censorship and Freedom of Speech an Interview with Jon Festinger, Q.C.
In this video, Jon Festinger, Q.C. discusses Video Game Law, Video Game Censorship and the importance of Freedom of Speech. Below is a short summary about Jon Festinger: Jon Festinger is...
By: BasedGamer
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Video Game Censorship and Freedom of Speech an Interview with Jon Festinger, Q.C. - Video
Platform for brutality
Both India and the international community have been engaged in a heated debate over whether the decision of a New Delhi magistrates court to suspend exhibition of the film, Indias Daughter, is a violation of freedom of speech. Such was the ire against this order that the director of the film Leslee Udwin called it suicide by India. One of the leading news channels, in a never-before protest, kept a banner of the film playing for the duration of the proposed screening. The British Broadcasting Corporation, of course, simply ignored the order and not only broadcast the film, but also uploaded it on YouTube, only taking it off after several hours.
It surprised me why people were defending hate speech in the name of free speech. I couldnt understand why a 60-minute film, which devoted 41 minutes to victim-blaming and propagating misogynistic ideas, was being defended so vehemently? The only rational explanation that I could find was probably because Indias hate speech laws, inherited from our colonial masters whether in our criminal statute or the exceptions incorporated to the freedom of speech in Article 19 of the Constitution, have always been concerned with maintaining public order and not offending mainstream morality. These laws have, therefore, naturally been used to silence dissent, sexuality and the voice of the marginalised. Whether it was the protests and banning of the film Water as immoral; the works of MF Hussain as obscene; and the statement of two little girls on Facebook against the public inconvenience caused by a bandh after Bal Thackerays death as spreading religious hatred. Public order and morality always enables perpetuation of the dominant discourse. Therefore, until the law defines hate speech as antipathetic to public order rather than as an offence to dignity, misogynistic speech that perpetuates structural violence against women, though it may maintain public order, will never fall within its purview.
A Facebook post shared a few days ago put hate speech into context for me. It read Women are not killed in a bubble. Theyre killed in a world that disenfranchises them, positions them as the other and disadvantages them. They are killed in a society that sends the message clearly and repeatedly that they are sexual objects for mens glorification and possession. The cultural elements that help to create this message arent the cause of violence against women but they are the contest in which they happen.
From khap panchayats, judges, police commissioners, religious pundits, to friends and family, women are told everyday, if you own a mobile phone and are seen in public after sunset, you are going to be raped, because the primitive male brain gets aroused! We are told everyday through television programmes, cinema and advertising what a good woman does and what a bad woman deserves! In this background, when a few weeks ago, the daily papers, advertised a sensational new film to be aired exclusively on a leading news channel on Womens Day, featuring a rape convict blaming the victim for this rape, I couldnt understand the purpose for this. Was this to titillate, present an excuse or just simply get eyeballs? There is nothing new or earth shaking in victim-blaming; we live with it every day, in various forms fictionalised and real and despite advancing technologically, we are simply becoming a more and more misogynistic society, unleashing newer forms of violence against women each decade.
There is, no doubt, that hate speech contributes exponentially to perpetuating patriarchal values in society and these values create the context in which violence against women occurs and is justified. It is no surprise that the German constitution gives human dignity primacy over competing values, because it is a society that realised social re-engineering from an anti-Semitic to an egalitarian society mandates the law silence ideas that validated and amplified values that are sought to be eliminated. Unfortunately, in India despite the mandate of Article 15 of our Constitution providing for positive discrimination in favour of women and Article 21 which has been defined by the Supreme Court to mean a life with dignity, words that take away the dignity of women, that encourage and validate violence against them are still being defended in the name of freedom of speech.
Free speech is a myth like the free market. Ideas of the majority and those that benefit commerce will always pervade society more deeply and if we have to change the context in which violence is perpetuated on women by replacing patriarchal values with progressive ones, we have to privilege the safety and dignity of women over the freedom to broadcast hate speech.
December 2012, India Gate, the power corridor of Delhi, was filled with protestors, after the media reported the brutal rape of a young girl. This girl was soon named Nirbhaya (The Fearless) by the crowds. For days people fought water cannons demanding answers, demanding justice, demanding safety. Such had been the courage of this young woman whose only crime was that she boarded a city bus at 8.30 at night despite being brutally raped on the bus, Nirbhaya fought from hospital, reporting what she could recall and refused to be defined by this violence. The crowds fighting on the streets demanded the state ensure that the city was safe for women. People wanted street lights, public transport, police patrols, community spaces that were safe for women, gender audits of communities and public places. People wanted actions not diagnosis; 60 years of diagnosis and excuses for rape culture had exhausted India. In December 2012, the discourse had moved, from Why rape happens, to What the government is not doing to make the city safe! Until in 2015, Leslee Udwin sent it back by giving a platform to misogyny. Lets not defend this in the name of freedom of speech.
The author is a practicing lawyer at the Delhi High Court
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Atheism Unleashed presents.. Inspirational Christopher Hitchens – Video
Atheism Unleashed presents.. Inspirational Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens. What #39;s not to like? The straight talking, no nonsense, say it like it is legend. Here #39;s a video showing a more inspirational speech from the greatly missed Mr Hitchens.
By: Atheism Unleashed
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Atheism Unleashed presents.. Inspirational Christopher Hitchens - Video
Atheist on… Promoting Atheism – Video
Atheist on... Promoting Atheism
This one is about promoting atheism and that it #39;s fine to be an atheist and if more people reveal themselves as atheist there would be less fuss about being an atheist.
By: Tom Leeds
Link:
Australian Writer Blames Atheism For ISIS Convert – Video
Australian Writer Blames Atheism For ISIS Convert
The reasons people particularly Westerners flock to ISIS are undoubtedly complex and multifaceted. Or if you #39;re conservative newspaper columnist Miranda Devine the answer is obvious:...
By: Secular Talk
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