Category Archives: Uncategorized

Free culture against arbitrary censorship

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I was browsing today, reading on the debate on whether or not censorship only occurs when it is performed by the government or some violent non-state actor. 

Then I happened upon this appeal issued by the EFF, calling for an end to censorship. It particularly hit home with the following:

Unfortunately, these values are only as strong as the will to support them. When individuals or companies choose to turn their backs on protected speech, we all lose.

 

Mike Linksvayer further expanded upon this idea, in the vein of copyright reform, by advocating free culture licenses as an altruistic rejection of one’s own privilege of censorship:

Not only does EFF fight censorship, they also retain almost no right to censor works they produce. They use a Creative Commons Attribution license, which only requires giving credit to make any use (well, any use that doesn’t imply endorsement). You should also join them is saying no to censorship in this way — no to your own ability to be a censor.

Finally, Freenet operates upon a principle of plausible deniability, whereby users of nodes are immediately saddled with a random, anonymous cache of block data on their corresponding hard drive disks, the result of which is that both everyone and no-one takes ownership of the hosting of prohibited content. This allows for Freenet to operate on an increasingly-absolute idea of "freedom of speech" – that no one within or outside can take down one iota of content or take exclusive ownership of said content from the ether of Freenet. 

 
So should there be a more tight-knit infrastructure for the non-coercive reduction of arbitrary censorship, and do the likes of Creative Commons, Freenet, the Freedom Box project headed by Eben Moglen, the much-discussed open alternative DNS system, and others contribute to such a realization?

The last 13 years of David Kato’s life

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While the world only began to find out about David Kato within the last three years of his life, much of what is traceable about him resides chronologically within the last 13 years of his life, from his return to Uganda in 1998 at the age of 34 to his murder in January at the age of 46.

Before 1998, he spent an indeterminate number of years as a teacher in South Africa. At the time of his return, Nelson Mandela was just about to complete his only term as the first black president of the country and turn the gavel over to his Deputy president Thabo Mbeki, and Uganda was just sending its troops into the Democratic Republic of Congo to back a rebel group in the deadliest conflict in Africa since World War II. Since 1994, the South African government was putting forth a series of measures decriminalizing many aspects of LGBT life in the country, including a 1998 measure for prohibition of labor discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Kato was cited by a few reports as having participated in anti-apartheid activities before it was dismantled, but the details are extremely murky because of a lack of available date placements for his participation in South African anti-apartheid activities.

So fining some more specific details on Kato’s life pre-1998 would help.

Anti-Judaism and racism in Egypt’s chaos

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 On one side, there are the caricatures of Mubarak with a Star of David on his forehead….and red fangs protruding from his mouth. One such picture was held by a man in a Getty Images photo that was uncontextually-placed in an article by english.aljazeera.net (by mistake, I assume).

On the other side, there are the verbal and physical assaults on foreign and domestic journalists (including Al Jazeera) by pro-Mubarak counter-protesters, many of whom shout "yehudi!" ("Jew!") at them after being told by Egyptian state television rumors about "Israeli spies" infiltrating the foreign media and taking advantage of the chaos.

If anything, the above incidents within the last few days are exemplary of the casual, provincial anti-Jewish bigotry being exhibited by many of the everyday Egyptians who protest both for and against the current, long-ruling government. It runs deep, and has been punctuated by decades, if not centuries, of both official and non-official solicitations to the scapegoating of the specter of evil, baby-killing, bloodthirsty Zionist monsters.

Furthermore, such public manifestations of bigotry lend credibility to those outside of Egypt who fear the influence of the proscribed Muslim Brotherhood party in the anti-Mubarak movement, but also hold the Mubarak government in a muted ill-regard for decades of authoritarian misrule. 

The last two weeks in Egypt, if not the last month in much of North Africa and Western Asia, have offered remote viewers outside of the regions a game-changing view into the desires and lives of the residents who have lived under similar regimes. However, in the midst of the chants for greater democracy, better governance and brighter economic prospects, it would be a grave mistake to ignore the existing religious and ethnic bigotries which run deep and hard in Egyptian society, bigotries which may or may not manifest in a post-Mubarak Egypt, or a post-kleptocratic North Africa and Western Asia.

Comments such as those offered by one anti-Mubarak protester to Agence France Presse – "The Israeli people are like the Egyptian people, we want peace and freedom" – or another who shouted into a camera in Tahrir Square for YouTube – "We will not be silenced! whether you are a Muslim, whether you’re a Christian, whether you’re an atheist, you will demand your goddamn rights!" – might yet offer the hope of cooler heads prevailing in the aftermath of these protests in regards to Egyptian-Israeli relations and the future of interfaith and intermoral relations in Egypt proper.
 
But these statements, these sentiments, can only go so far in showing the Egyptian people’s long-term collective capability in restraining or suppressing the casual bigotries which have been used in multiple generations in order to repress and suppress the quality of life and mind of themselves and their neighbors.

Dreams of bears and unemployment

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 I can’t remember the entirety of it, but I had a dream today which, in the last scene, showed me talking in bed, under covers and naked, with a nice-looking guy who is bald and as hairy-bodied as myself (save with a *much* longer, handlebar-like mustache and hair which is mostly dark reddish and curly).

At one point, we were relaxed and bantering with each other, my arm wrapped around his chest, the sunlight flowing into the large apartment/hotel bedroom window. 

Next thing, I can recall, as he was slowly getting up to straddle himself on top of me, the question about money came up. I am pretty sure that I was discussing my desires and ideas with him. Suddenly, he was all like "I don’t know why you’re so worried about that!" I responded, "Wait, don’t you have a job?" 

"Of course not!"

And at that point, the dream began to unravel as my hackles were raised a bit. I’m very sure that I began to hurriedly think of how I should present myself at a job, or what niche idea I should pursue in the IT industry, but it was to no avail.

I woke up with memories of a sexy, unemployed guy in bed with me, along with regrets about my current state of unemployment. 

Dreams and passive reception of our world

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On the way to a meetup last night, I thought about my dreams and why only certain recallable elements which I’ve seen in my waking life show up in my dreams and not other elements which I’ve seen in waking life. 

I thought about how I only dream about three types of elements which have occurred to me in real life:

  • physical space environments, including the following examples: my mother’s old church (1994-2002), my mother’s newer church (2002-present), former house on Orchard Way (1995-2001), really former house off Dover Drive (in the former off-base area in which we lived with my sister, her son and her now ex-husband from 1992-1995, long since bulldozed, cleared and sold to the city government along with the rest of that entire block of military housing)
  • television and film stuff which I’ve seen (the other night, characters akin to those which I saw in Danny Phantom figured in the early part of a dream).
  • the occasional song which I heard repeatedly on (usually gospel/christian) radio until I got the Internet (-2004)
  • the occasional song which I heard in MP3 ever since (I remember hearing Alanis Morrissette’s Ironic playing in the background in one dream which I had with my mother at some deserted busstop near a railroad crossing in the middle of Southwestern, perhaps Mojave desert…and that we liked it and danced a bit to it…which is weird because Mom does not like any music which is non-christian in lyrical orientation. I liked the dream, though.).

However, I do not see, or at least I cannot recall any visual, graphical computer content which I’ve seen in the past. 

I think its weird that I do not see any graphical content from computers figuring in my dreams with as much frequency as large-sized 3-dimensional or 2-dimensional elements. For as long as I’ve been using computers (since 2004 at home, since 2002 on a frequent basis from at least a library), I find it difficult to ascertain why the visual content of the Web in which I’ve immersed my eyes when I first wake up and when I fall to sleep does not figure much in my own oneirological experiences. 

I think it may have something to do with a passive reception of the large-sized content outside my computers. I can hardly control the playback of visual content on a television set, save for changing the channel or lowering the volume. Similarly, because the 3-dimensional reality in which I normally reside is populated by immersive elements, a subset with which I interact on a frequent basis. In comparison, I can control much of what I see on the web, control playback, edit the content, and so on, using visible visual elements indicating such control. 

I still need to wrap my mind around it, so I may revist the topic.

In re: Curious Presbyterian on r/atheism

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As a user of Reddit and an avid reader of r/atheism, I would like to respond to your Dec. 17 post on your comparison between r/Christianity and r/atheism:

It only takes a glance down the topic headings to see what I mean. The Christian topics are almost all about faith struggles, reconciling Christian doctrines with the facts of evolution, raising money for good causes, helping suffering people in other parts of the world, discussing various Christian beliefs, etc. There are a couple of threads about atheism, one of them positive, praising Dawkins’ public reading of the King James Bible.

Then turn to the atheist group: almost every thread is knocking, indeed attacking, religion in some way or another (usually Christianity and Christians), often in sneering tones. From almost total positivity on the Christian group we go to almost total negativity on the atheist one. From humility and thinking how to help others – while (ironically) doing quite a bit of self-questioning – on the Christian site, to unself-critical arrogance and belittling of others on the atheist site.

Your view on the "total negativity" of r/atheism’s denizens may not entirely be without merit, but I would defend the negative, angry atmosphere of the forum as a core, but not total feature. Our respective views on atheism and secular humanism aside, I can appreciate much of the top-ranking content on the front page as the outpouring of angry, jaded individuals who were mostly raised within some semblance of a theistically-centered parentage only to protractively "discover" the perceived logical paucity of that aspect of their own upbringing. 

It may be more traumatic than discovering that there is no such person in existence as Santa Claus, but the feeling that you’ve been "had" in the most unquestionably authoritarian manner – by your family, your friends, your local clergypersons, above all – is a feeling that is difficult to shake off. In fact, from the often-stated viewpoint of your fellow theists, some ex-theists are likely to project the anxieties and behavior foisted upon them at a young age against other people who may not be a strident in their exterior rejection of theistic ideology. 

But do I pity those or reject those who make a habit of sarcastic, seethingly-angry posts to r/atheism in order to reflect the predominate theme? Of course not.

I think that many denizens of the forum are younger in age, having just recently spurned the theistically-incorporative or centered worldview in increasing disgust and desiring for an outlet in which they can not only express their anger and assumption (I emphasize: ASSUMPTION) of progressive mental maturity, but also find like-minded, like-situationed peers with whom they can converse on a frequent basis and reinforce their newfound status. 

From that point, where an r/atheism user’s non-theistic secularity takes the user is up to the user alone. I’m very sure that most do not retain a frequent rate of posting to the forum, and some may come across the wider variety of atheist and secular humanist blogs and forums out there (say, RichardDawkins.net, DaylightAtheism.org, Planet Atheism, etc.) in order to find their niche. They may buy the literature, watch the videos, or even go to the offline outings and events for atheists and secular humanists.

But these more niche media outlets are likely to take an overall-different tone and atmosphere than that found on r/atheism. While making the same arguments, they will likely address other perceived reserves of theism, such as the ultimate fate of our minds, the existence of the self apart from the concept of a soul, moral and logical standards existing apart from a perceived theistic authority, the most far-flung effects of theistic worldviews upon whole civilizations, the relationship of the individual with the state and other collectives, the technological upgrading of various aspects of humanity and human existence, and other such topics which do not fall squarely within an atheistically-centered narrative. 

So r/atheism is probably one of the more visible and premiere outlets for young ex-theists, but it is far from the only or last outlet of media and discussion which one should attempt to peruse to aggregate a view of the Internet-using humanist demographic. 

In reciprocation, I do not necessarily judge the logical attractiveness of Christendom by just the letter of the Christian Bible nor by the behavior of those who take the letter of your preferred canon to various extremes (some of which are logical), as there are a number of Christians who are willing to interpret scripture to address the most niche topics which are broached by, say, findings in science and technology or law. The Umma of Islam has many saner elements who are less driven to emphasize the role of religion in public and political discourse or antagonize the usual targets of fundamentalist outrages (one such reputedly-saner individual, the governor of Punjab, was just assassinated by his crazed bodyguard with an AK-47 today for merely expressing a rejection of Pakistan’s blasphemy law).

Yet, permit me to utter my feeling, as an atheist, that I feel less welcome in the country of my birth, the land of the free, because of my personal and public spurning of theism. Permit me to express my mirth at the hostility expressed by many offline neighbors, including my own mother, against those who are more apt to reject the prior imposition of theism within their own inner mental sancta.
I haven’t posted my atheistic "coming out" story to r/atheism, but I can understand why so many are willing to post such expressions of white-hot rage, syruppy sarcasm and so forth. They are angry. They are frustrated. And they want to know how to live their lives without the presence of such a meme as a "deity" within their own lives, mentally bothering them at every turn with culturally-tinged artifacts.
There’s a wider blogosphere to help them with their frustrations and finish the rejection in fuller instances than ever before, and r/atheism is just one of many starts.

So again, the anger and sarcasm which themes much of the content posted to r/atheism?

A feature, not a flaw.

The beginning of the end of military sodomy laws: the demographic impact

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DADT was repealed by Obama’s signature yesterday of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act. Questions remain on how long the process of implementation will take place, or just how much may have to be discarded (and who should do the discarding) alongside the policy during the process, and it is not known just how much of the implementation may derive from the 87-page report on the survey conducted by the top brass of the Armed Forces.

 
The impact in the long term within the military is harder to measure, with demands growing for a more accommodating inter-personnel culture as LGBT activists continue to follow up on the DADT repeal. But some elements of the impact of the repeal, or perhaps the larger, longer repeal of the overtly-homophobic inter-personnel culture which has existed since the days of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, may be very evident to historians and observers of military history, LGBT history and demographic statistics.
 
 

Continue reading The beginning of the end of military sodomy laws: the demographic impact →

From a furry perspective: DADT

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Today, I sent a PM on FA to WhiteDingo, who commissioned this famous piece – "I Leave at 5" (NSFW) – back in summer 2007, to thank him for having commissioned the piece from Fluke, given today’s events. 

I felt that Fluke’s piece really captured both the fear of impending separation and, if intended, the "illegal" nature of gay relationships for U.S. servicemembers. I can imagine the soldier dog who is forced to treat his mate as an "othertime", "undercover" lover rather than a legitimate, open spouse, and that he must savor these last few minutes of restless, tearful parting at his lover’s indiscreet apartment before he leaves in the wee hours for the post to deploy to wherever the brass may order him and his battalion. Other members of his battalion will be able to receive their well-wishes from their opposite-sex spouses and kids on post before walking the long walk to the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy on the tarmac. 

Of course, many in the battalion may not come back alive, or may come back with nothing more than the breath in their body left intact. Our soldier dog may lose a limb and get a Purple Heart, but then come back and find out that someone has outed him to the brass and he is on his way out of rank and into veteran-style poverty, with nary a support line for himself or his mate after he has been so unceremoniously dumped from service. 

Amazing, in a sad and horrifying way, how this policy stayed in force for so long.

My sincere hope is that the love shared between a servicemember and a spouse, no matter the sexual orientation of the relationship, will no longer be an obstruction to the servicemember’s career. 

DeTweet or DownTweet: How?

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 The ReTweet is, in terms of a growing number of indexing sites like Topsy, the equivalent of an upmod vote or endorsement of the post as has been practiced by Digg or Reddit: basically, if one prepends "RT" to the prior poster’s username, the content of the repost and the associated shortened URL to the external site, Topsy interprets the RT as an endorsement of the reposted content and the full URL. 

So the "DeTweet" was introduced as a concept by various posters as being the opposite of the ReTweet last year, one that has not yet been credibly created or fleshed out for mass consumption or indexer use. Basically, instead of "RT" next to an associated post, a DT would be prepended in order to indicate dislike.

But what does that mean? Continue reading DeTweet or DownTweet: How? →