Archive for February, 2016

#Intersectionalism #IntersectionalAuditing #Fluff #PoeRatio

On the Importance of Intersectional Auditing.

In the ideal world of ideas, all our Privilege Points would be entirely negated by our Oppression Points creating a level playing field where the truth value, or otherwise, of differing ideas can be weighed and measured. Reality, however, is a land far from ideal.

In debate, the best we can hope for is a situation where your opponent has a roughly similar Privilege/Oppression Equivalence Ratio (POE Ratio) to yourself allowing the skill of the protagonists to come to the fore.

Watching the production of a well-timed – and well-placed – ‘I’m an Armed Forces Veteran’ card, or, even better, the ‘My Mom was a Single-Parent on Crack’ card, that has been kept up a sleeve, is a joy to behold and can make the difference between an audience seeing your facts as true, or otherwise.

Intesectional Tree - I Think

Darwin’s Famous Intersectional Tattoo he had done as a young sailor in Hong Kong whilst serving aboard the British warship HMS Bounty with Anthony Hopkins & Mel Gibson.

Producing the ‘I’m really Working Class’ card won me a ‘Battle of Ideas’ debate in a pub the other day after a two-hour gruelling argument on the nature of Dualism had more or less stalled.

Of course, this works both ways and I would advise extra precaution when the inability to see one’s opponent is a factor, as is the case in online chat-rooms and forums: A fortnight ago, my argument for the existence of Gravitational Waves, as predicted by General Relativity, was roundly trounced when I was blindsided by the classic ‘Black Vagina’ card.

This shows the importance of preparation prior to debate. Completing a full Intersectional Audit on one’s opponent is obviously crucial, and, as in the example above, may well have saved the day had I known she held the ‘Black Vagina’ card in her hand, but… (and this really is a big but) many people forget that the difference between victory and defeat may well be a lack of an in depth intersectional audit, not of one’s opponent, but of oneself.

Why suffer the ignominy of defeat when the price of a small amount of research could have shown you to be related to someone who died during the Irish Potato Famine, or, more importantly, retain your white cis heteronormative taxonomy – white penis and all – whilst identifying with, and therefore partially negating, holders of the ‘Black Vagina’ card itself.

I hope this brief but in-depth article has contributed to the understanding of how ‘Intersectionality’ & ‘Intersectional Auditing’ can help in the ongoing transformation of opinion as fact.

Anvil Springstien.

 

#ConfessTheBand #Blasphemy #Islamism

Iranian Metal Band ‘Confess’ Arrested for Blasphemy.

confess iranian metalband

Being a bit of a Paul Simon, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Clive Dunn sort of a chap, I’ve often joked about how purveyors of Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, Punk Thrash Metal, Goat Metal – and the many other divisions of the genre – should be arrested, tortured and put to death. I don’t really mean it. It’s a joke. A little harsh perhaps, but a joke.

My many friends who listen to and play this kind of

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crap – in bedrooms and in bands – like to think of themselves as subversive. It’s something I’ve always chuckled at as an extension – possibly life-long – of teenage rebellion. Okay, you’ve got a job, kids and a mortgage now, so the Goth/Metal look just had to go, but hey, you’ve still got that air-guitar, right!

Now imagine living in a society where my harsh joke actually happens – arrest, torture, murder – at the hands of the state for simply expressing oneself through shit music. For writing bad lyrics – simple words – that seemingly threaten the powers that be.

How can this be?

Totalitarian states will always seek to control both free speech and freedom of association. It is in their nature to attack these twin pillars of liberty. Yet it is never sufficient to silence and isolate the intellectuals, the pamphleteers, the political opponents: to impose the will of the state it has to control popular culture, too, for it is freedom of expression through popular culture that will transform and encapsulate a complaint, a message, an ideology or even a revolution into a word, an image, a phrase, a lyric – a meme.

Strange Fruit, Solidarity, Che, Free Nelson Mandela, Pride, ‘V’, Nic Ut’s shot of Kim Phuc, naked and burning with napalm, Grandad by Clive Dunn.

Controlling the extremities of popular culture is essential to controlling the middle ground. With Lemmy in a prison cell, it forces Adele to be at least cautious with lyrics the state may deem offensive, off-message, or taboo. It was part and parcel of the targeting in the Sunni Islamist attacks on Parisians in January and November of 2015 – free speech, freedom of association, popular culture.

Here we see it expressed in the Shia Islamism of Iran with the arrest of two members of the metal band ‘Confess‘ [link to full story below]. It reminds us that the extremities of popular culture are a litmus test as to the condition of liberty in any given state. It needs to be cherished and protected – even if the music is shite.

My many friends who listen to and play this kind of shit – in bedrooms and in bands – like to think of themselves as subversive – it’s because they are.

Anvil Springstien.

Source: Article/Track/Interview @ Loudwire Magazine.

http://loudwire.com/iranian-metal-band-confess-arrested-blasphemy-face-execution/?trackback=twitter_mobile_top

Note: Big thanks to the many emails pointing to the misspelling of the word ‘Shiite‘ in the title of this piece. In the UK, Shite is a form of shit (pronounced shyte).

 

#ToryTown #RoyalFamily #AusterityForSome

NewsGrab™ ©

This Just In…

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BBC Street Party

Original Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35542830

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Austerity Deterrence.

NewsGrab Collected Werks

Anvil Springstien.