Good move... A giant leap needed

Celebrity and social media power

My comments: This is how the voice of the brave traditionalist is drowned out. Like i have always said... You can tell us what you prefer... But there is no need to condemn and judge others whose actions you abhor.....     Dolce & Gabbana IVF Row Sees Parents Tweet Pictures Of Their 'Synthetic' Children

Ryan Barrell 

The Huffington Post UK Posted: 16/03/15 11:23 Updated: 16/03/15 16:59

IVF families have been uploading photos to Twitter in solidarity with Elton John's boycott of Dolce & Gabbana.

The fashion veterans were blasted by Eltonon social media this weekend after comments from Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana stating: "We oppose gay adoptions. The only family is the traditional one.

"No chemical offsprings and rented uterus: life has a natural flow, there are things that should not be changed."

"You are born to a mother and a father – or at least that’s how it should be,” Domenico said. "I call children of chemistry, synthetic children. Uteri [for] rent, semen chosen from a catalog."

The 'Your Song' singer announced a boycott of the Italian fashion brand on Sunday.

In addition to Elton's social media outburst, many other people with "non-traditional" families started joining the boycott and showing off their children.

coming out

Pedro Zamora was the first openly gay man with AIDS to be portrayed in popular media. This is a true story of one man who lived in a house with six people who did not fear his disease. Before MTV's "The Real World" in San Francisco, many of us had only seen the devastating side of HIV/AIDS. Keep in mind that in the '90s, people still thought you could contract the disease by sitting on a toilet seat. Pedro showed us that we were wrong and made us think differently. He showed us that living with or around someone with HIV is nothing we should fear.

show and tell?

Bill Clinton chipped away at discrimination for gay people.

Today, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is seen as a dated, bigoted piece of American history. However, it was a really progressive move in 1994 that started a huge conversation about gay rights. Before DADT, members of the armed services were being dishonorably discharged because of their sexual orientations. Clinton put a stop to that by saying "sex is none of the government's business," a bold move that was one of his first acts when he took office.

one for the record....

MALAYSIA HOME MINISTER: NON-MALAYS ARE MORE OKAY WITH BEING RAPED

According to him, statutory rape offends Malay sensibilities more than it does the sensibilities of other Malaysians, making it more likely for the former to report the crime.

and bringing oversimplification and finger-pointing to new levels: 

He blamed Internet pornography, peer influence and uncontrolled libido for the high incidence of statutory rape.

a good write-up for perspective taking:

https://medium.com/chinese-privilege/to-my-dear-fellow-singapore-chinese-shut-up-when-a-minority-is-talking-about-race-48e00d7c7073


some will be discriminated more than others(problem)
some need to feel superior to others (cause)
some react more adversely than others (consequence)
some learn not to discriminate (solution)
some stop reacting (solution does not work)
some look away (no solution)

some realise that change can only come about when:
he who discriminates is discriminated...
The solution is a problem....
life is full of paradoxes

well done media!!!

On the afternoon of Aug. 9, a police officer fatally shot an unarmed, black teenager, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri. Details remain in dispute. Eyewitnesses have said that Brown was compliant with police and was shot while he had his hands up. Police maintain that the 18-year-old had assaulted an officer and was reaching for the officer's gun. One thing clear, however, is that Brown's death follows a disturbingly common trend of black men being killed, often while unarmed and at the hands of police officers, security guards and vigilantes.

After news of Brown's death broke, media-watchers carefully followed the narratives that news outlets began crafting about the teenager and the incident that claimed his life. Wary of the controversy surrounding the media's depiction of Trayvon Martin -- the Florida teen killed in a high-profile case that led to the acquittal of neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman -- people on Twitter wondered, "If they gunned me down, which picture would they use?" Using the hashtag #IfTheyGunnedMeDown, users posted side-by-side photos, demonstrating the power that news outlets wield in portraying victims based on images they select.

On Monday, Twitter user LordSWVP tweeted out a photo driving home another point: Media treatment of black victims is often harsher than it is of whites suspected of crimes, including murder.

This is by no means standard media protocol, but it happens frequently, deliberately or not. News reports often headline claims from police or other officials that appear unsympathetic or dismissive of black victims. Other times, the headlines seem to suggest that black victims are to blame for their own deaths, engaging in what critics sometimes allege is a form of character assassination. When contrasted with media portrayal of white suspects and accused murderers, the differences are more striking. News outlets often choose to run headlines that exhibit an air of disbelief at an alleged white killer's supposed actions. Sometimes, they appear to go out of their way to boost the suspect's character, carrying quotes from relatives or acquaintances that often paint even alleged murderers in a positive light.

Here are a few examples:

WHITE SUSPECT

That's how the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal chose to present the story of Amy Bishop, a former college professor who eventually pleaded guilty to killing three colleagues and wounding three others at a faculty meeting in 2010.

BLACK VICTIM

And that's the headline AL.com ran about the shooting death of a 25-year-old black man in Alabama earlier this year.

WHITE SUSPECT

This is how the Staten Island Advance covered the case of Eric Bellucci, a mentally ill New York man who allegedly killed his parents.

BLACK VICTIM

Meanwhile, NBC News ran this headline during ongoing coverage of the Trayvon Martin killing.

WHITE SUSPECT

This Fox News headline quoted friends shocked that 15-year-old Jared Michael Padgett had entered his high school heavily armed and killed a classmate, injured a teacher and took his own life.

BLACK VICTIM

But in Florida, this headline in the Ledger focused on a police account that made the death of a black 19-year-old seem somehow expected, or at least unsurprising.

WHITE SUSPECT

In the wake of the mass shooting in Santa Barbara, California, earlier this year, the Whittier Daily News offered a headline showing one man's disbelief that Elliot Rodger could have committed such a crime.

BLACK VICTIM

Earlier this month, the New York Daily News ran this headline, carrying comments by the Ohio attorney general that appeared to defend police afterkilling a black man at a Walmart.

WHITE SUSPECT

This was the headline given to an Associated Press story at Mlive.com about an Ohio teen who later pleaded guilty to a school shooting in which three students were killed and two were wounded.

BLACK VICTIM

But when an unarmed father of two was killed by a police officer while entering a vehicle that contained his own children, the Los Angeles Times served up this claim from officials.

WHITE SUSPECT

In 2008, 18-year-old Ryan Schallenberger was accused of plotting to bomb his South Carolina high school. Ohio's Chronicle Telegram wanted readers to knowthat he was a straight-A student, running an AP story with this headline.

BLACK VICTIM

And according to the Omaha World-Herald, this is what you needed to know about Julius B. Vaughn, a 19-year-old gunned down in Omaha last year:

WHITE SUSPECT

Kerri Ann Heffernan was charged in 2012 in a string of bank robberies and stores. This headline at Wicked Local wonders how she'd come so far from her days as a smart high school student.

BLACK VICTIM

Of 22-year-old black man Deon Sanders' killing in Ohio earlier this year, WKBN's headline said "gang member," and that apparently was enough.

racism is everywhere

In July 2013, Ryan Carr tweeted what he thought was a "funny joke" and then probably forgot about it.

One year later, Asishpal Singh stepped in.

Ashishpal Singh @YungAshuSingh

Follow

@HardRCarr ugh I know what you mean, I get really uncomfortable whenever I see a white man walk into a movie theater or elementary school

5:00 AM - 6 Aug 2014

His comeback, posted on Tuesday, quickly went viral and for good reason: It's brilliant.

controversial but interesting book

America: Imagine a World without Her 

1 To the moral credit of America, she ended slavery
the British and French did end slavery before America did, but the difficulty in America was that slavery was critical to the economy because of the Industrial Revolution.
2 America was the only country to fight a great war to end slavery.
3 EMERSON said: THIS IS NOT THE REVOLUTION OF THE OPPRESSED, BUT THE REPENTANCE OF THE TYRANT....MEANING: 300 000 northern soldiers died on the battlefield to secure the freedom of the slaves, that the slaves themselves were not in a position to secure for themselves.

why is america still important in the world

1 From the dawn of humanity, the CONQUEST ethic prevailed. eg colonialism - creation of wealth by taking land and wealth from someone else
2 America invented a rival ethic : WEALTH CREATION
3 IF THE WORLD DID NOT HAVE AMERICA RIGHT NOW, THE CONQUEST ETHIC WOULD RETURN WITH A VENGEANCE
4 The Russians and Chinese are using wealth creation - but they still believe in conquest...eg russia has just annexed crimea from ukraine and china has declared much of the south china sea as her territory.
5 all the commerce of the globalised world would be unsafe if not for the American navy...

so we still need america now as much as in the past

if this doesn't make you feel bad...then perhaps you might need another lifetime

does education make people more educated?

Controversial columnist Dr Ridhuan Tee Abdullah is now perturbed by the size of the Calvary Convention Centre (CCC) in Bukit Jalil, the largest church in Southeast Asia, saying that Christians did not deserve such a big place of worship given that they only make up 10% of Malaysia's population.

The lecturer said instead, Buddhists deserved bigger temples because they accounted for 20% of the population.

"We have been too good in allowing them to build the biggest church here when they make up less than 10% of the population.

"This does not include the churches in each state, district and also those in shophouses and in Orang Asli settlements.

"To be fair, the Buddhist deserve more as they make up more than 20%," he said in his article in Sinar Harian titled “What is fair and what is not”.

The RM200 million 55,700-square-metre building which began operations in July last year, boasts a 5,000-seat auditorium, as well as a multi-purpose hall, classrooms, lecture halls, a nursery and retail stores and cafes.

According to Ridhuan, Muslims in Malaysia were so good, adding that the comfortable conditions enjoyed by the non-Muslims here did not exist in neighbouring countries.

He added that the government has given a lot of leeway to other groups to air their views to the extent it was now posing a problem.

"I remember the saying, 10% of conflicts arise from opposing views, 90% from the wrong voices.

"What is happening today is that we have given freedom to the 90% immoral voices that keep talking about their rights. In the end, we feel pressured."

The Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia lecturer also reminded Muslims not to be too trusting towards the “ultra kiasu” as they might find themselves trapped in the end.

He said there ought to be suspicion as it was the strategy of the “ultra kiasu” who hold the view that there was no 

"Ultra kiasu" is Ridhuan’s favourite euphemism for those deemed as going against the Malays.

He also called for the powers of the Bar Council to be curbed, so that it did not behave like the opposition.

He added that those leading the Bar Council were made up of “ultra kiasu lawyers” and it was only they who attended the Bar's AGM.

The Bar had urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to withdraw his suit against online news portal Malaysiakini and its editors, saying that it set a bad precedent as Najib was, in effect, suing the media for the views and comments of the public to whom he was accountable.

Bar chairman Christopher Leong had also said public officials, especially those holding high public offices, and political parties should not resort to defamation suits as an answer to criticism or comment.

malala goes back to school

On March 19, Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year-old Pakistani student and women’s-education activist, returned to the classroom on for the first time since being violently attacked by a member of the Taliban on October 9, 2012. Malala was shot on her way home from school in Mingora, Pakistan. The Taliban group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) took responsibility for the attack. The group said the attack should serve as a warning to others. TTP’s members follow a strict version of Islam and believe girls should not go to school. Malala was targeted because she is vocal about girls’ rights to education in Swat Valley, Pakistan.

AFP/GETTY IMAGES/NEWSCOM

Malala recovers from the attack at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England.

After a long period of recovery, Malala is starting as a ninth-year student at Edgbaston High School. It is the oldest independent girls school in Birmingham, England. Though she has no concrete plans to return to Pakistan, Malala still speaks out as a voice for change in her country, and everywhere. “I am excited that today I have achieved my dream of going back to school. I want all girls in the world to have this basic opportunity,” Malala said in a statement. “I miss my classmates from Pakistan very much but I am looking forward to meeting my teachers and making new friends here in Birmingham.”

Malala’s Journey

Malala has been an Internet blogger, or writer, since she was 11 years old. In 2011 she was awarded Pakistan’s National Peace Award for her bravery in writing about the difficulties of life and education in the shadow of the Taliban. She has spoken publicly about children’s rights and been nominated for an international children’s peace prize.

After the attack in 2012, support for Malala poured in from around the world. The United Nations declared November 10 Malala Day. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the day honors Malala and shows the world that people of all sexes, all backgrounds and all countries stand behind her.

IS IT STILL A MAN'S WORLD?

When Ertharin Cousin, the newly appointed executive director of the World Food Programme, graduated law school in 1982, a professor pulled her aside and told her she needed to look like a man because it was important she not let being a woman hurt her ability to represent a client. So for years she wore gray and black shapeless suits, bowties and little to no jewelry.

you go girl!!!

Malala Yousafzai attracted public attention in 2009 when she published a blog telling of her life in Swat, in an area under Taleban control. She then became an activist campaigning for the rights of children and girls.

On 9 October, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head as she travelled home from school in a bus in Swat, in north-eastern Pakistan. According to media reports, the Taleban have claimed responsibility for the attack during which two other schoolgirls were injured. Malala Yousafzai was transferred to a British hospital on 15 October for prolonged medical treatment. 

The day following the attack, on 10 October, the Director-General of unesco issued a press release denouncing the attempted murder. She wished to express her support for the Pakistani schoolgirl, who became a symbol of the struggle in favour of the right to education

she is in a hospital in the UK 

government decides

Malaysia’s Information Department has banned TV shows featuring gay characters

celebrity power

During one of the fundraising concerts after Hurricane Katrina, Kanye West, always a dangerous man when he has a mike in his hands, said President George W. Bush didn't "care about black people." Fast-forward five years and West's latest album release coincided with Bush's memoir tour, during which he talked about being called a racist as one of the lowest points of his presidency.

laws revised

THE law on voluntary sterilisation has been updated to better protect the mentally disabled.
The change means that persons with mental or hereditary illnesses, who still have the mental capacity to consent to sterilisation, now have the power to do so. Previously, the Voluntary Sterilisation Act stated that for such individuals, the power of consent lay with their spouse, parent or guardian.

politics and tension

 In the book Hard Truths, Lee remarks about Malays failing to integrate. It also reopens the thorny question of what integration should mean. Moreover, when Lee suggested that the community’s high regard for public piety is one of the stumbling blocks, it would have been perceived as throwing a challenge to their interpretation of Islam.

MR LEE LATER APOLOGISED, before the elections, in a move to assuage the malay community.

lee kuan yew's comment causes unhappiness

• lee kuan yew
• I have to speak candidly to be of value, but I do not want to offend the Muslim community... I think we were progressing very nicely until the surge of Islam came, and if you asked me for my observations, the other communities have easier integration – friends, inter-marriages and so on – than Muslims... I would say, today, we can integrate all religions and races, except Islam.
  • from his book 'Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going' (Asia One, March 08 2011 

Hard Truths was a book based on 32 hours of interviews over a period of two years. I made this one comment on the Muslims integrating with other communities probably two or three years ago. Ministers and MPs, both Malay and non-Malay, have since told me that Singapore Malays have indeed made special efforts to integrate with the other communities, especially since 9/11, and that my call is out of date. I stand corrected, but only just this instance! I hope that this trend will continue in the future.


were there protests? no
was there unhappiness amongst the muslim community ? yes
how was it resolved
= lky retracted his statement...
the opinion of one person cannot make or break a religion or cultural group

you do....

so stay calm, collected and show them you are made of finer stuff...friends...

No one community is to blame for the cracks that appear...everybody must bear responsibility and take action...

I hope our children will live in a better world than we did.

RELIGION AND ART

SWEDEN

Citing a lack of evidence, an appeals court acquitted three men accused of plotting to murder a Swedish artist who had depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog. Judges in Goteborg ruled that the three men of Iraqi and Somali origin may have been prepared to use violence against Lars Vilks in September 2011 but found no concrete proof that they planned to kill him. The men were carrying knives when they were arrested after inquiring about Vilks at an art exhibition where he had been expected to appear but did not do so.

 

WHAT MAKES OR BREAKS A RELIGION?

IS IT THE CRITICISM OF OTHERS?

OR IS IT YOU?

I DO NOT CONDONE THE CONDEMNATION OF ANY RELIGION - IT IS, TO PUT IT MILDLY, NOT VERY NICE.... IT IS THEIR FAITH...LEAVE THEM BE

BUT I ALSO DO NOT THINK IT IS GOOD TO REACT SO VIOLENTLY - ESPECIALLY IN THIS DAY AND AGE...WE CAN'T CONTROL WHAT PEOPLE SAY OR DO ON THE INTERNET

BILL CLINTON IS RIGHT

Former President Bill Clinton says the followers of Islam shouldn't resort to violence when they hear their faith challenged in an increasingly diverse and Internet-connected world.

Clinton tells CBS "you cannot live in a shame-based world. You won't make it in the 21st century."
He says in an interview broadcast Tuesday the United States wasn't "disrespecting Islam" by declining to censor a film trailer that, quote, "nobody in authority knew anything about."
Clinton says the world has learned the hard way that people must be allowed in a free setting to say and do things that others might find abhorrent. He adds, quote, "you can't react every time you're insulted."
Video clips of the movie appeared this month, sparking riots in Libya, Yemen, Pakistan and much of the Islamic world.