Tag: Billy Bragg

If you follow the Youtube star Natalie Wynn of ContraPoints, then you should read this article in its entirety. Natalie is the only 'Youtube' that I watch consistently and have watched most (but not all) of her videos. Always both entertaining and educational and makes you think days after watching. I cannot say this for any other youtube channel.
/jd

Little more can be said than this: ‘ContraPoints is an elegant, whip-smart middle finger to the putrefying swamps of the internet’

please read: The Oscar Wilde Of Youtube Fights The Alt-Right With Decadence And Seduction

‘…Irony is a means rather than an end for ContraPoints. In an era saturated by Dadaist humor on every social media platform, where memes become news, this can seem to be a meaningless distinction. But it makes all the difference. For all of her racy humor, Wynn is no edgelord. Throughout her interview, she was nothing if not deeply sincere.

She decries what she calls the “South Park” sensibility, which, as she sees it, holds that “the problem with the world is that some people take it seriously.” It’s a centrist viewpoint, she says, which “the fascists latched right onto and did a great job with, because who cares more than the social justice warriors? ‘Look at them with their signs, their protests, their complaints. Look at these poor, naive, uncool fools caring about a thing and trying to make the world better unironically.’”

But at the same time, she observed that irony could be a powerful tool to make people care…’

‘…Her views have been influenced by the characters she has created, too. The wildly popular character of Tabby — an anarcho-communist trans cat-girl who sports an ANTIFA patch and wields a baseball bat to smash capitalism — began life as a caricature of radicals that Wynn felt weren’t strategically minded enough. But her audience “resonated with the character,” finding her a “cute and sort of cathartic” presence and, thus, she says, “I’ve switched to portraying her in a more sympathetic light.” Increasingly, Tabby feels like a part of Wynn’s own psyche as she herself has radicalized.

In a recent video, when Contra and Tabby were arguing about revolution versus electoral reform, Tabby broached the unsettling possibility that the 2020 presidential election might be “delayed” or canceled outright. “Well,” Contra said, “then I’ll transition into you and become you unironically.” It feels like she’s getting there, certainly…’

ok, enough pull quotes from an article a lot of quotes to pull! just read it...
The Oscar Wilde Of Youtube Fights The Alt-Right With Decadence And Seduction

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Stephanie McMillan’s commentary on USA Labor Day and the 8-hour day…

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Billy Bragg: There Is Power in a Union
‘Labor Day music: Billy Bragg performs “There Is Power in a Union” in the Democracy Now! studio in 2011’

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Israeli forces begin demolition campaign in al-Walaja

TODAY: Heartbreaking video of Palestinian families trying to save their homes from being demolished in al-Walaja (west of the southern occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem). Palestinians organized sit-ins and stood on roofs and stayed in their homes. They were met with terrible violence and injury by Israeli forces.

The homes are being demolished under the pretext of not having permits which are virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain.

More: http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780916
Video via twitter Nasser Atta @nasseratta5

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When I started on Mastodon (around the first 8 months, or so, I think) there were no, or almost no, Hungarians on it. I tried to convince some of my Hungarian Geek friends to start a Mastodon instance, but there was no interest. I am happy to see today that there are many (but still not a lot) Hungarians on this new social media 'platform' – https://MSTDN.hu

Every 'instance' (server, basically) of Mastodon has it's own rules, and that is a feature of Mastodon, not a bug. So, the following is ok in the Masto-verse.

‘…the use of Nazi and / or Communist symbols and the criminalization of any criminal law perpetrated by violent dictatorships. Certifying abusive anti-communist activity…’ [Bad google translation]

Considering that I am on the https://soc.ialis.me instance I find this a bit shocking, even if I do understand the Hungarian mentality and historical experience behind it.

But still, the Red Star and communist symbols have been legal in Hungary since 2008, thanks to the European Court of Human Rights, read: http://echrblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/red-star-judgment.html. The essence of this court ruling was that the Red Star means many things to many people, whereas the Swastika (especially in the European context) pretty much only means one thing – therefore the Swastika should remain illegal while the Red Star should be legal in Hungary, and elsewhere in Europe.
/jd

‘… In the Court’s view, a legal system which applies restrictions on human rights in order to satisfy the dictates of public feeling – real or imaginary – cannot be regarded as meeting the pressing social needs recognised in a democratic society, since that society must remain reasonable in its judgement. To hold otherwise would mean that freedom of speech and opinion is subjected to the heckler’s veto…’

– European Court of Human Rights, ‘Vajnai v. Hungary’, 2008

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Also see:

http://www.forbiddensymbols.com/