Daily Archives: June 24, 2017

Ritual Skulls and Other Magical Objects, in Photos – Atlas Obscura

Posted: June 24, 2017 at 2:05 pm

There are over 3,000 mystical artifacts on display at the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Cornwall, England. These range, says photographer Sara Hannant, from cures to curses, from spirit houses to spells for sailors, from the tools of wayside witches to the ceremonial robes worn by Western ritual magicians. Its the largest collection of magical objects in the world, and one that Hannant got to know well during an artists residency at the museum.

Much of my recent work concerns magical beliefs, rituals and folklore, says Hannant. I have always been interested in folk magic and I have also been exploring, through a long-term project, the personal connections we have to objects and the significance and memories we attach to them. During her residency, she photographed ritual items that have been imbued with supernatural meaning, including wax dolls, wands, statues, daggers, pendants, robes and amulets. These images are now part of her most recent book, Of Shadows: One Hundred Objects from the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic.

With such a large collection to choose from, Hannant selected the items she found the most resonantbut also those that show the range of the museums holdings, so objects related to cunning folk, ceremonial magic, Freemasonry, Satanism, alchemy, and Wicca are included, plus objects from the witch trials in the early modern period. Each object was photographed in the same way, a deliberate choice by Hannant, who says she found it best to photograph at night, enabling the objects to emerge from the darkness, where it is said magic begins.

Hannant has a particular interest in ceremonies and items of supernatural significance. Her previous book documented British folk customs rooted in cycles of nature: dramatizing the wheel of the year with costumed processions, fire rituals, mumming plays and traditional dances that mark seasonal change.

Atlas Obscura has a selection of Hannants images of magical objects.

See the original post:

Ritual Skulls and Other Magical Objects, in Photos - Atlas Obscura

Posted in Modern Satanism | Comments Off on Ritual Skulls and Other Magical Objects, in Photos – Atlas Obscura

Outlast 2 Garishly Exploits Your Sexual Hangups For Horror – Paste Magazine

Posted: at 2:05 pm

Spoiler warning: this article discusses major plot points from the game.

Somewhere deep within a mountain canyon in rural Arizona, Outlast 2s Blake Langermann runs through dust and darkness pursued by a Christian fanatic. Looking through his eyes, the player hops wooden fences and scans through the electric green static of a handheld camcorders night-vision for a rain barrel or rotted wooden closet she can tuck the terrified journalist inside. A moment of hesitation spent trying to decide whether to sprint further or hide and time runs out. The Christian grabs Blake, beating him about the head until he slumps to the ground. The last thing we see is a knife jammed into Blakes crotch to the accompaniment of lustful grunts and panicked screams.

Searching desperately for his fellow journalist and wife Lynn, lost after a helicopter crash stranded the couple in the canyons, Blake finds himself caught up in the grand eschatological designs of two opposing groups: the homicidally zealous citizens of Temple Gate who worship self-proclaimed prophet Sullivan Knoth and a sect of hazily defined Satan-worshipers lead by a heretical exile named Val. Both groups are determined to abduct Lynn. Shes unexpectedly pregnant and is due to give birth at any moment, though this comes as a surprise to Blake and player both. (Lynn doesnt look like shes nine months along until the next time shes seen up close during the games finale.) Knoth and Vals followers are both trying to kidnap Lynn because they believe shes carrying the Anti-Christ. The Christians want the child killed immediately to ward off the False Messiahs evil; the others want it kept safe to ensure the opposite. Neither group sees Lynn as anything more than a decisive piece in a grand cosmic game.

On its surface, the obsessive Christians of Outlast 2 seem like a condemnation of religion. Amid the upfront creepiness of the fanatics who kidnapped Lynn, this theme is continued through flashbacks to Blakes days in a Catholic high school when he failed to save a classmate from being sexually abused by a priest. Her subsequent death haunts him. In the present day and nightmarish memory, Blake is surrounded by crosses. They line the walls of classrooms and hallways in flashback; they dot graveyards, top houses and occupy spots of importance in Temple Gates many houses and community buildings. Alongside the human viscera and buckets of blood covering most every surface of the games environments, the crosses leave the games strongest visual impression.

The constant association of gore with Christianitys chief symbol is overdone (its hard to walk five steps without finding some combination of severed body part and cross), but its also key to Outlast 2s preoccupation with the religions violent underpinnings. Its a game that quite rightly wishes to criticize the bloody foundation of a major system of faith, splattering the cross as a reminder of the torturous death it represents and evoking murderous extremists as a blown out, entirely unsubtle stand-in for the hate and horror so often carried out in the name of a loving God.

To that extent, Outlast 2 is a moderate success even as it conveys its message with the nuance of a teenager, certain theyre the first and only person in human history hip to religious hypocrisy. Its symbolism, though, is rich enough to be worthwhile. In the town of Temple Gate and the figure of Knoth, who refers to himself as the Modern Ezekiel, the game implies a twisted version of Old Testament prophecies regarding the building of the Third Temple. The Biblical Ezekiel was given visions of the destruction of Jerusalem and an eventual return to the city, construction of the Third Temple and the beginning of the Messianic Agesimply put, necessary preparations for Satans final defeat and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Knoth, too, believes he has been graced with divine foresight. His obsession with individual responsibility for sin, the need to strictly adhere to Gods laws and a willingness to sacrifice in order to purify his community are echoes of Abrahamic eschatological thought, nuance hammered away into a bizarre, frightening new shape.

Outlast 2 sees Ezekiels prophecies enacted in summary. Knoth, like the Biblical figure, believes God speaks to him and prepares his people accordingly. He enforces a self-serving version of Gods law that allows him to sleep with the women of Temple Gate, control his congregants sexual behaviour and most frighteningly, kill newborns if he believes they may be the Anti-Christ. As the game progresses, Blake sees the dead rise again in visions like the prophecy of the valley of bones. He sees Temple Gates enemies (Val and her Satanist heretics) destroyed in a mass slaughter near the games climax. He sees plague visit their home just like Ezekiels vision of the defeat of Gog and Magog, enemies of Israel and allies of Satan.

The recurring, blinding flashes of light throughout the game and the radio tower looming above the canyons are implied to be signals urging the people of Temple Gate into the hallucinations responsible for Knoths prophetic visions (and the citizens eagerness to murder in the name of Jesus or Satan). The signal comes with an explosion of brightness and a bowel-loosening horn blast that resembles the Voice of God. The suggestion is that, just below a socially acceptable surface, the Christians of Temple Gate are looming extremists, ready to murder, rape and war with one another according to their beliefs when loosed from the confines of modern American culture.

This would be a clever though pretty straightforward justification for a religiously-inflected horror game if Outlast 2 contained its scares to these topics alone. (Its best moments are when apocalyptic signs manifest around Blake as raining blood, lakes full of dead fish and a freak lightning storm. The player, like the character, begins to wonder how much of what theyve dismissed as the ranting of religious extremists may actually be real.) But Outlast 2 wants to frighten players in other ways, too.

Its chief villains include a naked man wearing a sackcloth over his head and Val, a naked woman with a similarly bizarre, homemade crown made from what looks like twigs and mud. Both characters faces are purposefully obscured, highlighting their nudity. The player is meant to be frightened by the human body and sexuality for sexualitys sake. Val is introduced following several notes Blake picks up after first arriving at Temple Gate. In them, we learn she was one of Knoths priests who abandoned Christianity for Satanism in large part because she was preoccupied by recurring erotic dreams. She physically enters the game by surprising Lynn and Blake, beating them and licking their faces. Her next appearance comes hours later, naked but for a covering of light-colored clay, in the mines beneath Temple Gate where the Satanists gather. She comes toward the camera as the player kneels, the view highlighting her vagina, begging the player to be shocked.

The entire section spent running from Val, her cloth-masked lackey and the other Satanists is characterized by a desperate sort of scare-sexuality. Blake runs from naked killers, finds an altar where two skeletons are posed to simulate sex, stumbles on a ritual, torch-lit orgy and, in a telling crescendo of terror, rescues his wife, stomach now bulging noticeably and entering into labor. The final moments of the game see Lynn deliver the supposed Anti-Christa normal baby girlbefore collapsing dead on a table, legs splayed and covered in blood. Earlier in the game, the player hid in the same building as a naked woman was tortured for information.

Outlast 2, like a lot of horror, tries to unsettle its audience by homing in on a culturally ingrained fear. Like the dripping eggs and nightmare genital monster of Ridley Scotts Alien, the game tries to exploit a discomfort with sex to make its player scared. In some cases, this can function as a sort of satire that exposes the ridiculousness of a given fear by amplifying its unfounded but assumed cultural basis. Examining the source of terror can lead to a nearly unconscious revelation. (Was a doctor ever truly unsettled by Aliens monster?) But, the takeaway from Outlast 2 isnt that being frightened by nudity, birth and sexuality is absurd. Its premise is that these are valid fears that were right to have. The greatest moments of terror are naked people chasing Blake, penises swinging and breasts exposed. It wants to create revulsion and panic with a babys birth.

The game adequately finds the real horror of unquestioned religious faith in its connection between Christian scripture and the appalling actions of its unleashed Temple Gate villains. But it undermines itself by embracing the same philosophical mindset as the fanatics it hopes to skewer. Knoth and his followers condemn the impure and look properly hypocritical in couching their restrictive views of sexuality in sex-obsessed terms. (And Knoth said: Yea, thine mind is too tight an arbor for the girth of the Lords message, and would split at its penetration . . .) Outlast 2 does the same. Its monsters are drawn from sexually abusive priestsobsessive dissemblers who betray the source of their anxieties by trying to control it in othersbut it tries, too, to make horror by exaggerating an assumed discomfort with nakedness, unrestricted sexuality and reproduction.

Theres a good horror game to be made out of the terror caused by the hypocritically religious. Such an important part of human psychology and historythe shorthand for entire philosophical viewpoints and often staggeringly cruel institutionscan be personified with awful monsters and nightmarish settings. A rejection of this sort has to be self-aware, though. It cant, like Outlast 2, condemn the same systems it hopes to reinforce.

Reid McCarter is a writer and editor based in Toronto whose work has appeared at Kill Screen, PC Gamer, GQ and Playboy. He is the co-editor of SHOOTER (a compilation of critical essays on the shooter genre), edits Bullet Points Monthly, co-hosts the Bullet Points podcast and tweets @reidmccarter.

Read the original here:

Outlast 2 Garishly Exploits Your Sexual Hangups For Horror - Paste Magazine

Posted in Modern Satanism | Comments Off on Outlast 2 Garishly Exploits Your Sexual Hangups For Horror – Paste Magazine

Can Robert Mueller be trusted? – Fox News

Posted: at 2:05 pm

The last few decades have not been good ones for those of us who believe in the rule of law, who subscribe to our countrys proudest boast, that ours is a government of laws, and not men (or persons).

What this means is that we are governed not by arbitrary political power, but that our republic is committed to the values that endure from the founding generation. These core values include an appreciation that there can be no order without law, no law without morality, and, indeed, that there can be no morality without religion. These traditional views have been largely abandoned by our legal and political elites on the left, a trend that Dukes Dean Paul Carrington characterized as legal nihilism, the belief that law doesnt matter and thats its simply all about politics.

Weve seen enough of this in practice to persuade some supporters of President Trump that a nihilistic and lawless legal system, in the person of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, might overturn of the will of the people expressed in President Trumps election. Mueller is a good friend of the dismissed FBI Director, James Comey, and has staffed his team with a group of donors to Democratic candidates.

Traditional views of the rule of law have been largely abandoned by our legal and political elites on the left, a trend that has been characterized as legal nihilism, the belief that law doesnt matter and thats its simply all about politics.

I am actually encouraged by Muellers appointment, however. I think hes going to get to the bottom of things quickly, and I think hell find that theres nothing there. And thats the best and cleanest way to dispose of a false issue.

First, Mueller is a person of the highest integrity, and I can speak to that because I know something about the law firm from which he and many of those he hired came. This is the firm now known as Wilmer, Hale once known as Wilmer, Cutler, & Pickering. I worked for two years at that firm, and I have never been surrounded by more brilliant and principled individuals. There were more Democrats than Republicans at the firm, but unlike the academy, there was a diversity of political views, and there was a commitment to the law itself that was, I think, the real thing.

One of the most zealous former Special Prosecutors, Ken Starr (scourge of Bill Clinton) has expressed his trust in Mueller and the team he has assembled, and that means a lot to me (I have long known and respected Judge Starr, and have had the pleasure of working with him).

Second, I think Mueller will find that, as President Trump claims, he never attempted to obstruct justice, and, indeed, never attempted to stop such an investigation. There is no denying that Trump expressed his hope to Comey that Trumps fired aide, General Michael Flynn, would not be hurt by such an investigation, but Trump apparently gave no direct orders to cease investigating Flynn, and, to the contrary, even Comey admitted that Trump expressed his wish that if any of his satellites apparently referring to those persons who were connected to his campaign had colluded with the Russians, he, Trump, wanted to have that revealed.

To obstruct justice in this context would require two things, as the lawyers call them, actus reus and mens rea. The first means evidence of a criminal act and the second refers to the intention to commit it. If Trump is telling the truth, neither occurred here the investigation was never stopped, and Trump never sought to stop it. Last year the Supreme Court unanimously held that former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell was not corrupt because he never ordered his subordinates to aid a donor. What Trump did was so much more benign that that. From what evidence weve seen, Flynn had not done anything out of line with the Russians, and if thats so there was neither an actus reus (wrongful act) nor a mens res (intentional wrong) from which one might infer an obstruction of justice.

If Mueller is an honest man, this is the conclusion he will have to reach, and he will, when he makes his report, have to exonerate the president. And since itll be easy to examine the evidence, we should expect the issue to disappear before very long. In that case, the president will emerge stronger, not weaker, from the investigation. That would be a defeat for the legal nihilists, and a pleasant surprise and a reassurance that the rule of law is returning to this country.

Stephen B. Presser is the Raoul Berger Professor Emeritus at Northwesterns Pritzker School of Law and the author of Law Professors: Three Centuries of Shaping American Law.

Follow this link:

Can Robert Mueller be trusted? - Fox News

Posted in Nihilism | Comments Off on Can Robert Mueller be trusted? – Fox News

Corbyn chants, T-shirts and sculptures: Jeremania hits Glastonbury – Irish Times

Posted: at 2:04 pm

about 8 hours ago Updated: about 7 hours ago

Glastonbury: Jeremy Corbyn is due to appear on Saturday afternoon, opening for the outspoken hip-hop duo Run the Jewels. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA Wire

The chorus started at 10pm on Thursday in the dark sweaty depths of the Glastonbury silent disco. Just a low rumbling at first, it built into a loud roar with hundreds of festivalgoers singing, at the tops of their voices: Oh . . . Je-rem-y Cor-byn.

Glastonbury this year may boast appearances from the biggest acts in the world, Ed Sheeran and Radiohead among them, but judging by the T-shirts, flags and impromptu musical outbursts, the man of the hour is the Labour partys 68-year-old leader.

Corbyn is due to make an appearance at the festival on Saturday afternoon, opening for the outspoken hip-hop duo Run the Jewels. It is in a stark contrast to last year, when the politician was forced to cancel a Glastonbury speech after the result of the EU referendum and questions about his future as party leader.

Heather Cuss, a 33-year-old from south London, said: Theres always a community atmosphere at Glastonbury, but this year its definitely all about Jezza. Weve seen musicians playing with Corbyn necklaces, and everywhere you walk you hear people break out into Jeremy Corbyn chants. Even bands from abroad have been giving him a shout-out, as theyve clearly heard everyone going, Jeremy Corbyn, Jeremy Corbyn, and theyre joining in.

In the dance area Shangri-La on Thursday, the New York brass band were leading the crowds in the Oh, Jeremy Corbyn chant, and the giant sand sculpture near the Park Stage was of Corbyn riding on the back of a fox and chasing Theresa May through fields of wheat.

The political antics continued into Friday, when a man dressed as May in a full red suit and wig was chased through the crowd at the bandstand by eight foxes, to riotous cheers.

Im not Corbyns biggest fan, but hes become this celebrity icon here, said Lizzie Gibney, another 33-year-old, who said that despite her doubts about Corbyn as a leader, she had been heartened by how he had revitalised the youth vote. Getting out the young vote was an incredible achievement, and energising that group of people who hadnt been targeted by politicians before, and thats what you really feel being here. Corbyn fever is genuinely everywhere you go.

Olly, a 24-year-old, was one of the many festivalgoers at Worthy Farm, near Pilton in Somerset, sporting a Corbyn T-shirt. Im wearing it because Corbyn has put Labour back to where it should have been, he said. Im definitely going to see him talk and will probably do some chanting too.

Indeed, it seems that this year politicians are the new rock stars. The former shadow chancellor Ed Balls, enjoying his first Glastonbury, was stopped for selfies every five minutes as he walked around Shangri-La and was met with shrieks of delight and songs everywhere he went, to the bemusement of his wife, Yvette Cooper, who hasnt been to Glastonbury for 30 years.

Andrew Myors, who is 30, and Matt Foncette, who is 32, said they had been among those singing the Corbyn when one of the DJs played The White Stripes track Seven Nation Army the backing music for the chant and the whole field erupted into song.

Coming here, you realise how much of a phenomenon Corbyn is, said Myors. And it isnt just one type of person whos here and joining in these songs: hes united all these people who come to Glastonbury to watch completely different genres of music. And its such a different vibe from last year. I definitely dont think there were many people singing woop Brexit chants at Shangri La.

With the recent terror attacks and political uncertainty after the UK general election, the mood at Glastonbury was one of defiance and that, while the world outside the festival walls might be crumbling, the spirit of community and hedonism would not be tainted.

Sixty-two-year-old Lesley Wright and 54-year-old Shan Shanahan, who have been friends for 15 years and live in the same village in south Wales, were at Glastonbury for the first time, with Wrights husband, who uses an electric wheelchair. The festival, they said, had always been on their bucket list.

Ive been so overwhelmed by the spirit of this festival, its definitely something the world needs right now, said Wright. All coming together as a community, and speaking as one. Its all ages, everybody is here, its amazing. With everything thats going on, we should be coming together like this more than ever.

Coming here with somebody with a disability is a feat in itself, but I will tell you something: the facilities are amazing. Were just going to go with the flow, just go and see whos giving the good vibe.

Guardian

Read the original post:

Corbyn chants, T-shirts and sculptures: Jeremania hits Glastonbury - Irish Times

Posted in Hedonism | Comments Off on Corbyn chants, T-shirts and sculptures: Jeremania hits Glastonbury – Irish Times

New Wiscasset Bay Gallery Exhibition Opens July 8 – The Lincoln County News (subscription)

Posted: at 2:04 pm

Andrew Winters Morning After the Storm

Art in the Twentieth Century opens at the Wiscasset Bay Gallery in Wiscasset on Saturday, July 8 and will continue through Friday, Aug. 4. The exhibition explores the pluralistic nature of the art world in the 20th century, with developing styles that include cubism, expressionism, realism, and abstraction.

Of particular note is a work by late German-American artist George Grosz executed in New York in 1936. Grosz was born in Berlin in 1893. He became an important member of the Dada movement and openly rejected the rising German nationalism during the second decade of the 1900s. The Dadaists sought to escape the rationalism and logic that they believed led to World War I. Bringing an experimental, playful, and even irrational approach to art, Grosz and the Dadaists sought a return to humans child-like nature.

After Grosz emigrated with his family to New York in 1933 because of his strong anti-Nazi sentiments, he became a teacher at The Art Students League of New York. A few years later, Grosz painted New York Skyline in his loose, ethereal style with calligraphic marks accenting the tugboat and Manhattan skyline.

Contrasting Groszs abstracted, spirited work is Andrew Winters Morning After the Storm. Rooted in a clear, realistic style and drawing on a dramatic event, the artist depicts four sailors on a cliff viewing the remains of their ship off the coast of Monhegan Island. Other significant 20th century paintings and sculpture include a large modernist oil, Woolwich Ferry Slip, by John Folinsbee, and a major bronze by William Zorach, of his daughter Dahlov Ipcar, titled Innocence.

The show also features drawings, watercolors, and oils by important international artists such as Paul Guiragossian, Andre Derain, Marc Sterling, Victor Vasarely, and Ossip Zadkine.

Wiscasset Bay Gallery is located at 67 Main St. in Wiscasset. For further information, call 882-7682 or go to wiscassetbaygallery.com. The gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

More here:

New Wiscasset Bay Gallery Exhibition Opens July 8 - The Lincoln County News (subscription)

Posted in Rationalism | Comments Off on New Wiscasset Bay Gallery Exhibition Opens July 8 – The Lincoln County News (subscription)

Backing Trump, Shakespeare and free speech (at the same time) – The Hill (blog)

Posted: at 2:03 pm

As Brutus from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar said, perhaps ironically, There are no tricks in plain and simple faith.

Only a fool would fail to see the decaying political discourse in America and the sharp partisan divides. These divides in America have become so overt and tense that the arts have become outlets to express partisan anger in an ever-increasingly distasteful manner.

Since the inauguration of President Trump, Madonna spoke of blowing up the White House, Snoop Dogg assassinated a clown resembling Trump in a music video, and Kathy Griffin held up a severed head that resembled President Trump in a photograph, all under the auspices of the resistance. Last week, the Republican baseball team was nearly massacred by a man who clearly had targeted them for their political views. The escalation of both rhetoric and violence should be alarming to any rational citizen.

Over the past weekend, supporters of Trump aimed to directly combat Shakespeare in the Park in New York City, in which Julius Caesar, dressed to resemble Trump, is assassinated on stage. Their tactic? Rushing the stage and interrupting the performance while yelling things such as stop leftist violence! and, Goebbels would be proud!

Their actions did not calm and tone down the rhetoric: they only furthered it. Ironically enough, these same people belong to a base that was vocal and united against campus protesters who employed the same tactics to shut down and harass conservative speakers.

Its worth mentioning that the very same production did the same thing to an actor resembling President Obama, and no public outcry took place. The directors of the play used the modern context of the presidency to illustrate the plays point, although continuing to do so in the wake of last weeks violence was distasteful and unnecessary.

Laura Loomer, the woman who first rushed the stage, claimed on Fox News: I am protecting the presidents life. I am protecting our Constitution. I am using my constitutional right of free speech and protest to protest against the bastardization of Shakespeare.

These claims are as ridiculous as they are false. The Secret Service protects the presidents life, not stage-rushing playgoers. Shakespeare in the Park is a free event, albeit one that requires tickets from its attendees. As a closed event, any interruption cannot be described as an exercise of free speech, but instead an act that infringes on the rights of those who are attending the event.

The producers of the play had already come under immense pressure and were already losing sponsors. By rushing the stage, the narrative switched from the disturbing act of the play, to silly protesters shouting down the play itself in the name of free speech.

Perhaps these protesters should have better studied Julius Caesar. The play portrays the assassination of the historic Roman leader, but focuses on the infighting and strife that ensues among the assassins. The plays tragedy is not Caesar himself, but rather the friendships, and eventually the lives, of those who wished to seize power. It is itself a condemnation of political violence.

In the aftermath of what was obviously a publicity stunt, Loomer used her airtime on Fox News to bash the never-Trumpers who she claimed are unhappy with President Trump being our president.

They havent accepted it and the only way that they would be resolved is if he was eradicated or taken out, she said.

I voted for Trump. Supporting our president and supporting free speech are not mutually exclusive. Americans who chose to not vote for Trump have the same rights to free speech as those who voted for him. The get in line or else mentality on display is the very sort of behavior that fuels the hyperpartisan rhetoric originally at fault.

Fight fire with fire is the mantra these demonstrators have used to defend their actions.

This sort of logic (if you can call it that) is only furthering the downward spiral of political discourse. After the many times the right has claimed to be the champions of free speech, this sort of behavior is unbelievably hypocritical.

Discourse in America, on both sides, is seriously flawed. Taking away others free speech is not the solution. You can fight back with outrage and strength while upholding decency and respecting the rights of others.

Kassy Dillon is the founder of Lone Conservative blog and has appeared on Fox News discussing issues surrounding free speech and cultural issues on college campuses. @KassyDillon

Views of contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.

Continued here:
Backing Trump, Shakespeare and free speech (at the same time) - The Hill (blog)

Posted in Free Speech | Comments Off on Backing Trump, Shakespeare and free speech (at the same time) – The Hill (blog)

In Wake Of Protests, UC Davis Considering New Free Speech Policy – CBS Sacramento

Posted: at 2:03 pm

June 23, 2017 11:41 PM By Lemor Abrams

DAVIS (CBS13) It was one of the wildest political showdowns ever at UC Davis; angry students silencing conservative speaker Milo Yiannopoulos after a standoff between protesters and police officers.

From what I saw the only violence was from the protesters not from Milo, said Graham Everett.

Graham Everett watched from a distance. The international relations major doesnt care for the controversial speaker either but believes in his right to free speech.

I think theres plenty of ways to express yourself that doesnt infringe on someone elses right to free speech, he said. UC Davis officials agree.

Six months after the protest, a group consisting of students and law professors is out with recommendations to ensure future speakers can go on unhindered.

Among them:

That sounds like an overreaction, said another student.

For this grad student, the school should think twice about allowing speech that may incite violence.

I dont think we should have just unregulated speech, said William Swanson.

But school administrators want to make sure even the most controversial speakers are given a platform, especially in a public university.

What kind of institution doesnt allow freedom of thought? said Everett.

The interim Chancellor has asked the schools general counsel to review the recommendations before replacing the current free speech policy.

Twitter: @LemorAbrams Email: labrams@kovr.com Facebook Lemor Abrams is an Emmy-Award winning news reporter, who has interviewed thousands of people, from key political figures to everyday folks who impact their community. Her very f...

Get Our App

Get The CBS Sacramento Weather AppGet the latest radar, CBS13 AppCasts and hour-by-hour forecasts. You can also send your weather pics.

Follow Us On Facebook

About Us

Advertise

Business Development

CBS Television Public File

CBS Radio Public File

Visit link:
In Wake Of Protests, UC Davis Considering New Free Speech Policy - CBS Sacramento

Posted in Free Speech | Comments Off on In Wake Of Protests, UC Davis Considering New Free Speech Policy – CBS Sacramento

Wisconsin Assembly debates bill on campus free speech – Fox News

Posted: at 2:03 pm

MADISON, Wis University of Wisconsin students who repeatedly disrupt campus speakers or presentations could be suspended or expelled under a Republican-backed bill the state Assembly debated Wednesday.

The measure, expected to be voted on late Wednesday night, is the latest salvo in the national push among some conservatives to crack down on disruptions they say is quelling free speech on liberal college campuses. Conservatives are worried that right-wing speakers aren't given equal treatment as liberal campus presenters, while other students have complained about free expression fanning hate speech.

Democrats, who didn't have the votes to stop the bill in the Assembly, blasted it as an unconstitutional attack on freedom of speech.

"It basically gags and bags the First Amendment," said Democratic Rep. Chris Taylor of Madison.

Republican backers told reporters that the bill would protect speech from those who repeatedly try to quash it.

"We have to lay down some groundwork here and we have to create a behavioral shift so everyone can be heard and has the right to express their views," said the measure's sponsor Republican Rep. Jesse Kremer.

The bill must still pass the GOP-controlled Senate and be signed by Gov. Scott Walker before becoming law.

Walker has voiced support for it.

"To me, a university should be precisely the spot where you have an open and free dialogue about all different positions," he said in an April interview with WISN-TV. "But the minute you shut down a speaker, no matter whether they are liberal or conservative or somewhere in between, I just think that's wrong."

The proposal comes in the wake of incidents on college campuses across the country in which protests or threats marred conservative presentations.

Fights broke out at New York University in February after protesters disrupted a speech by Gavin McInnes, founder of a group called "Proud Boys" and a self-described chauvinist. That same month there were protests at the University of California-Berkley ahead of an appearance by former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos. That school canceled an April speech by conservative firebrand Ann Coulter due to security concerns. And in November, UW-Madison students shouted down former Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro.

Under the Wisconsin bill, two complaints about a UW System student's conduct during a speech or presentation would trigger a hearing. Students found to have twice engaged in violence or disorderly conduct that disrupts another's freedom of expression would be suspended for a semester. A third offense would mean expulsion. UW institutions would have to remain neutral on public controversies and the Board of Regents would have to report annually to legislators about incidents.

"You're hoping to neuter the university from having any stance on things," said Democratic Rep. Cory Mason.

The bill is based on a model proposal the conservative Arizona-based Goldwater Institute put together to address campus free-speech issues. Legislation based on the model has been enacted in Colorado, with others being considered in five states, including Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia, according to the institute.

Democrats argue that the measure could open the door to partisan operatives attending speeches and filing complaints against students to get them thrown out of school.

"We are returning, when we do this, to the witch hunt era of Joe McCarthy," said Democratic Rep. Fred Kessler, referring to the former U.S. senator from Wisconsin who made it his mission in the 1950s to identify Communists.

The only group registered in support of the measure is Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy organization. Opponents include a group representing faculty on the flagship UW-Madison campus, the labor union representing UW employees and the League of Women Voters.

See more here:
Wisconsin Assembly debates bill on campus free speech - Fox News

Posted in Free Speech | Comments Off on Wisconsin Assembly debates bill on campus free speech – Fox News

Johnny Depp on Donald Trump: Crime or free speech? – BBC News

Posted: at 2:03 pm


BBC News
Johnny Depp on Donald Trump: Crime or free speech?
BBC News
Actor Johnny Depp has caused controversy after he appeared to threaten US President Donald Trump at the Glastonbury Festival. "When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?" he asked the crowd. It is a crime in the US to make threats ...
Johnny Depp Apologizes for Joking About Trump Assassination: 'I Intended No Malice'PEOPLE.com
Johnny Depp jokes about killing Donald Trump in Glastonbury appearanceThe Guardian
Johnny Depp apologizes for assassination jokeCNN

all 582 news articles »

More:
Johnny Depp on Donald Trump: Crime or free speech? - BBC News

Posted in Free Speech | Comments Off on Johnny Depp on Donald Trump: Crime or free speech? – BBC News

Yes, hate speech is still free speech – mySanAntonio.com

Posted: at 2:03 pm

Photo: SARAH GIFFROW /AFP /Getty Images

Yes, hate speech is still free speech

With the left feverishly attempting to squash unwelcome speech on college campuses, with the president of the United States musing about tightening libel laws, with prominent liberals asserting that so-called hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment, free speech in America at least has one reliable friend the Supreme Court of the United States.

In a firm 8-0 decision, the court slapped down the Patent and Trademark Office for denying a band federal trademark registration for the name The Slants, a derogatory term for Asian-Americans. The case involves a very small corner of federal law but implicates the broader logic of political correctness, which is that speech should be silenced for the greater good if there is a chance that someone, somewhere might be offended by it.

As it happens, The Slants is an Asian-American band that seeks to reclaim and take ownership of anti-Asian stereotypes (it has released albums called The Yellow Album and Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts). This didnt matter to the trademark office any more than it presumably would to the dean of students at the average liberal arts college. The Slants appealed the initial rejection to the trademark office, got rebuffed again and then rightly made a federal case of it.

The litigation hinged on a provision of federal trademark law referred to as the disparagement clause. This clause forbids registration for any trademark which may disparage persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt or disrepute. Taken literally, this provision would forbid the disparagement of the KKK, an institution; or Benito Mussolini, a person who is dead; or Vladimir Putin, a person who is living.

The trademark office interprets the clause with all the wisdom youd expect of a federal bureaucracy. As the trademark offices manual puts it, an examiner determines whether or not the mark would be found disparaging by a substantial composite, although not necessarily a majority, of the referenced group.

So, merely a plurality of the offended will do, and common sense is no defense: The fact that an applicant may be a member of that group or has good intentions underlying its use of a term does not obviate the fact that a substantial composite of the referenced group would find the term objectionable.

This is classic safe-space reasoning the harm that would allegedly befall some portion of a group from encountering an offending trademark should trump the free-speech rights of the likes of The Slants. The court utterly rejected this posture, deeming it inimical to a free society and untenable under the U.S. Constitution.

In a passage that should be pasted into the student handbook of every college and read aloud by progressives who have convinced themselves that hate speech is not free speech, the court held, Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful; but the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express the thought that we hate.

As the courts concurring opinion noted, basing the trademark prohibition on the presumed reactions of an offended group doesnt help a speech burden based on audience reactions is simply government hostility and intervention in a different guise.

The practices of the Patent and Trademark Office obviously arent the most significant grounds for contention over speech. But the disparagement clause was the wedge that activists were trying to use to force the Washington Redskins to change the NFL teams name (the team has been fighting the cancellation of its trademark in court). And every effort by the speech police to spread their operations from college campuses to the wider society must be resisted.

In this case, they came for a self-described Chinatown Dance Rock band with a cheeky name, and the Supreme Court said, Sorry, not in America.

comments.lowry@nationalreview.com

View post:
Yes, hate speech is still free speech - mySanAntonio.com

Posted in Free Speech | Comments Off on Yes, hate speech is still free speech – mySanAntonio.com