“Okay, why the hell is that a trending topic?” I thought.

(For those of you wondering, a Trending Topic on Twitter is something that’s mentioned very frequently by multiple posters — enough to become a trend.)

It turns out, Facebook had allowed groups centered on Holocaust denial to be created on their site, and various people (including Mark Cuban’s brother) were calling for the groups’ removal. Much like recent debacles over Amazon accidentally removing listings for all books featuring sexuality (which means 99% of GLBT-centric books) and LiveJournal running an ad for National Organization for Marriage, the InterTubes were once again in a pitchfork and torch-wielding rage over people saying, posting, or believing stupid things.

*sigh*

Recently, one of the free local newspapers in my area ran an anti-gay editorial. The four-paragraph hate-rant was full of religious rambling and completely free of any logic, facts, or historical evidence to support the author’s claim that God created marriage, because, well, no supreme being did, in fact, create marriage. I could give you the historical evidence about marriage being a Church-instituted ceremony in the late middle ages to generate wealth after the selling of indulgences and other favorite money-making schemes became passe. I could point you toward books about the nature of human beings, which is evolved from a psychological proclivity to serial monogamy. I could use logic and reason to show how, even if you believe that homosexuality is a sin in your religion, you should still tolerate the difference of opinions between yourself and others and allow for human rights to be equally granted to all human beings, regardless of sex, gender orientation, sexual orientation, race, religion, or intelligence. I could even argue it from a religious perspective — let he who is without sin cast the first stone — and point out all of the other sins committed on a daily basis, by Christians, which are considered an abomination by the very same chapter that demonizes homosexuality (such as wearing a cloth made of a blend of more than one fiber!)

I would do all of that, except there’s a notice at the bottom of the page which says the paper does not publish letters to the editor.

And that, dear readers, is where the difference between Facebook and the bigot in The Hamiltonian ends. Because when you put one opinion out there, and you leave no room for debate of that opinion, that newspaper or website is, in fact, endorsing that opinion. The Hamiltonian is, in fact, saying that it as a newspaper supports gaybashing and bigotry. So I’m writing a letter demanding they stop putting their newspaper in my mailbox because of the are a hate-filled tabloid.

What I am not doing is demanding a retraction, demanding an apology from the author or even for the author to be fired. He has a right to free speech, and private companies have a right to publish what they want. It is not the right of the individual to dictate what speech can and cannot be published in a private area. It is not my right to demand a retraction. It is my right, however, to tell them to go fuck themselves and stop subscribing.

It is the same for Amazon and for LiveJournal. If you do not like their content, leave. Tell them why you’re taking your business elsewhere, and leave. There are alternatives — Barnes and Nobel and DreamWidth, respectively. Take your business elsewhere if you do not like what they do or how they treat your group — and if you want to say, tell them that you’re regrettably leaving. Don’t make demands or create ultimatums — that’s what immature people do. Just take your business elsewhere and see what happens. In the case of both Amazon and LiveJournal, as soon as they realized what they’d done had upset their customers, they fixed the problems posthaste.

However, I’d point out, that in the case of Facebook, people threatening to leave, writing hateful letters, and otherwise tantrum is beyond unreasonable. Unlike Amazon and LiveJournal, where the questionable actions seemed to come from an internal source and therefore espoused the negative, bigoted beliefs, Facebook’s content in question is user created, and a group for Holocaust survivors, believers, apologists, etc. could just as easily be created to counter the information, to present truth to counter the lies, to balance the perspective so that an individual searching the term “Holocaust” could find all the information and make up their minds about it as an individual.

Oh, but people don’t LIKE that! There’s a general thread the connects conservative and liberals, Republicans and Democrats, atheists and Christians, and it goes like this: all people should only think nice thoughts, good thoughts, the thoughts that I approve. Hate speech and hate crime legislation is an example of this. The goal of crimes against bigoted, unintelligent, uninformed thoughts and speech is to keep all alternative opinions closeted, buried, to give the appearance of a uniform consciousness of society that is only good and benevolent. Alternative ideas must be buried, and those that are particularly disdainful removed from public sight.

Why?

When we bury ignorant hate speech, when we make bigotry a thought crime, we are giving credence to the paranoid belief of most extremists that they are a persecuted mass whose numbers would grow if they were not being deliberately and systematically oppressed by the Government.

When we bury hate speech, we are in direct violation of the very principles this country was founded upon — the idea that all speech, no matter how repugnant, was protected as long as you didn’t incite others to violence. Burying hate speech is possibly the least patriotic thing you can do.

When we add additional punishment to the sentence an individual receives for committing a crime because he was thinking thoughts that society deems incorrect and morally reprehensible, we are creating Thought Crimes. We are marching, in lock step, toward the dystopian future of 1984.

When we punish someone for thinking bigoted thoughts, we are only solidifying the thoughts in that person’s mind.

Hate speech and hateful thoughts will always exist; we cannot control or wipe away the ideas of the human mind. Someone will always think that homosexuality is bad, just as there are people today who believe that interracial marriage is immoral and wrong. Just as electing a black president did not officially end racism, censorship of those who deny the Holocaust will not end anti-Semetism, nor will it bring back the millions of people, Jews and gentiles alike, who were killed by the Nazi regime.

All censorship does is provide fertile breeding grounds for the ideas that are being censored.

When a publication endorses an opinion we do not like, we have the right to vote with our dollars to take our business elsewhere. When a publication allows equal time to all sides of an argument, we have the duty to support the enlightened side, not by bashing, censoring, or harming the opposing side, but by offering to debate with reason, by showing love and unwavering support for the human being that is behind the horrible ideas they spout.

My parents, I am embarrassed to say, are racists, especially my mother. She’ll even tell you as much, though she has a few black friends, “The good ones,” she says. She drops the n-word a lot when discussing matters of race. It was how she was raised, by parents who were authoritarian and for whom she still holds a child-like reverence. It has been a long, hard struggle for me to accept that I can still love my family for the good people they are and overlook the ignorance in which they live. When my mother makes a blanket generalization about black people, I have to stop myself from yelling at her, and instead look at her and say, “Now, you don’t really believe that’s true, do you? What about your friend Anna*? She’s a nice person, and she’s black, right?”

“Yes, but she’s one of the good ones.”

“Maybe they’re all ‘good ones’ and maybe the man that cut you off just now is just an asshole?”

She sulks and stops talking, possibly because she knows I’m not going to let her win this one, but possibly because she knows, in her heart, that I’m right.

I would urge everyone to treat those in the world who are complete fucking morons and believe that the Holocaust never happened, that gay marriage will destroy the world, that Arabs hate our freedom and will destroy America with the same compassionate argument. They are not always our mothers, but in a wider sense, in the sense of the human spirit, they are our brothers and sisters, and they need to be educated, the need to be encouraged to question the ignorant beliefs they hold. They should not be shouted at, pushed down, and forced underground where they can sew more seeds of hatred. We need to keep them on the surface, to prepare our counter arguments, to see what they’re saying and why they’re saying it so that we can present a reasoned, intelligent, and compassionate response.

Instead of shutting down the Holocaust deniers, let’s talk to them.

I know that reason and logic will always be anathema to some very hateful, very stupid, very ignorant people, but in censoring them, are we not stooping to their level, going to any length to “shut them up.” Are we, ourselves, not committing hate crimes by targeting our vengeance upon a specific group of people — the ridiculously ignorant — for no reason other than the fact that they will not listen to reason? And if we can’t shut them up, what next? Jail time? Forced re-education? Lobotomies for the haters? Fear is what breeds hate, and isn’t threats of silencing their voices at any cost just giving a real and logical fear to back up illogical ones?

Being an idiot is not a crime; we need to accept that and move on as a society. Maybe only when we can tolerate all thoughts — intolerant or not — and accept that not everyone is going to think nice, happy thoughts can we, as a society, make the appropriate steps toward ending hatred and bigotry in our society.

Did you forget the existence of this mediocre blog? The tagline is, after all, we update when we get around to it, so if you were expecting something a bit more regular, shame on you!

Actually, the reason for extended radio silence without the sporadic updates you know and love is that The Husband and I moved to a new residence! And, let me tell you, MOVING SUCKS. No matter how much money you save up, it’s never enough, and the experience leaves you broke, indebted to everyone you know and love, and on the verge of suicide.

Or at least, that’s always been my experience.

Good news, though! Apparently, through some miraculous turn of events, I’m going to get all my moving expenses back and then some, to the tune of 18 MILLION DOLLARS! How, you ask with the skepticism I expect to hear in your voice? Easy! Apparently, a Colonel Uday of Iraq was murdered and left all of his money in a Hong Kong bank with no next of kin to claim it! All I have to do is help a nice Asian business man retrieve the money, and he’ll cut me in for 70%.

At first, I thought it was one of those Nigerian scams, but it clearly can’t be, because it’s all involving ASIAN people!

MR. Song Li le
Hang Seng Bank Ltd.
Sai Wan Ho Branch,
83, Des Voeux Road,
Hong Kong.
(songlile64@gmail.com)

Good Day,

Let me start by introducing myself. I am Mr. SONG LILE, Director of
Operations of the Hang Seng Bank Ltd. I have an obscured business
suggestion for you. Before the U.S. and Iraqi war, our client Colonel
Sadiq Uday, who was with the Iraqi forces and also businessman, made a
numbered fixed deposit for 18 calendar months, with a value of Twenty Four
Millions Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars($19,500,000.00usd)
only in my branch. Upon maturity several notices was sent to him, even
during the war which began in 2003. Again after the war another
notification was sent and still no response came from him. We later found
out that the Colonel along with his wife and only daughter had been killed
during the war in a bomb blast that hit their home.
You can read more about the bombings on visiting these sites below:

1.http://www.ccmep.org/usbombingwatch/2003.htm#3/19/03
2.http://civilians.info/iraq/deaths_data.php

After further investigation it was also discovered that Colonel Sadiq
Uday, did not declare any next of kin in his official papers including the
paper work of his bank deposit. And he also confided in me the last time
he was at my office that no one except me knew of his deposit in my bank.
So, Twenty Four Millions Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars
is still lying in my bank and no one will ever come forward to claim it.

What bothers me most is that according to the laws of my country at the
expiration 5 years the funds will revert to the ownership of the Hong Kong
Government if nobody applies to claim the funds. Against this backdrop, my
suggestion to you is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand as the
next of kin to Colonel Sadiq Uday, so that you will be able to receive his
funds.

MODALITIES:

I want you to know that I have had everything planned out so that we shall
come out successful. I have an attorney that will prepare the necessary
document that will back you up as the next of kin to Colonel Sadiq Uday,
all that is required from you at this stage is for you to provide me with
your Full Names and Address so that the attorney can commence his job.
After you have been made the next of kin, the attorney will also fill in
for claims on your behalf and secure the necessary approval and of probate
in your favor for the move of the funds to an account that will be
provided by you. There is no risk involved at all in this matter, as we
are going to adopt a legalized method and the attorney will prepare all
the necessary documents. Please endeavor to observe utmost discretion in
all matters concerning this issue. Once the funds have been transferred to
your nominated bank
account we shall then share in the ratio of 70% for me, 30% for you.

Should you be interested please send me your,

1, Full names,
2, private phone number,
3, current residential address,

And I will prefer you reach me on my private email address below:
(songlile64@gmail.com) and finally after that I shall provide you with
more details of this operation.

Your earliest response to this letter will be appreciated.

Kind Regards,
Mr. Song Lile

My reply:

Please reply to my information below with all of the information regarding this transaction!

Weysan Dun*
11 Centre Place
Newark, New Jersey 07102
(973) 792-3000

* this would be the name, address, and phone number of the acting director of my local branch of the FBI, FWIW

BoingBoing Update:
If any of you were betting on last night’s conspiracy theories regarding the unpublication of Violet Blue, you’ve just hit pay day if you bet on option number five, at least according to ValleyWag:

“Sex blogger Violet Blue may have tried to ride the Boing Boing coattail express to microfame by airing grievances publicly. But once upon a time she waged the same kind of war on Boing Boing cofounder Xeni Jardin’s side against Matthew Neal Sharp, curator of xenisucks.com, and the New York Times. Now, after the bad breakup between the two bloggers became serious business”

Moreover, a liberal reading of an interview Xeni Jardin and a few other member of BoingBoing did with the LATimes seems to hint at “affair gone sour” as the reason for Jardin’s deletion of Blue from BoingBoing existence. Jardin admits she unilaterally made the decision to exorcise BoingBoing of the specter of Ms. Blue for personal reasons.

“But at the time, I did that for personal reasons, and for a back story that will always remain private.”

“…I didn’t bring it up again in part because it involved some personal, private stuff that I don’t tend to get into. Like whether someone’s character is this or that, or whatever kind of personal dirty laundry was involved.”

So there you have it.

Interestingly, while Pescovitz (who seems genuinely upset by the whole thing) and John Battelle (BoingBoing’s business manager and CEO of site sponsor Federated Media) were interviewed for the article, Doctorow and Frauenfelder have been very quiet about the whole situation. As I mentioned last night, I can’t imagine Mark ever saying a bad word about anyone, but despite my polar opposition to most positions of Cory, I’ve got to feel bad for him right about now. If there are two things Cory loves, it’s BoingBoing and free speech/transparency in publication, and now there’s a cleft between the two because of Xeni’s actions. And then her lovely, not at all self involved quote:

“But –- it was my work. And I felt like: This is my work, this is my blog. This is not the same thing as Wikipedia or the paper of record. It’s BoingBoing. And I have the right to take these things down while I think about whether I want them out there or not.”

…and I have to feel bad for Cory. If I was in his position, I’d be ready to inflict some serious bodily harm to someone who had just made my website, which I love, look like it compromised its integrity. Because if there’s one thing that Cory doesn’t want to be seen as, it’s a hypocrite, so I imagine he’s torn between presenting unified support for a team member or the copy-left, anti-censorship rage he’s probably feeling right now.

Or he could be cool with the whole thing. Who knows.

What I do know is that, because Cory and Xeni are the two BBers who tend to post about certain subjects (if it’s copyfight or anti-government, it’s Cory; sex or space, it’s Xeni) they are most likely at odds with each other right now. Because Xeni is, essentially, the sex blogger of the site, any post that wasn’t written by Violet Blue is hers, and copyright would remain with her. But copyleft isn’t so forgiving.

The Consumerist: Think Similar!

In other Leftist blog news, to show solidarity with BoingBoing, The Consumerist has also jumped the shark. The Consumerist is a Gawker Media site dedicated to helping shoppers fight back against corporate oppression, which usually entails how to get through to humans in customer support, how to get through to executive customer service, what consumer rights are, and how to execute an Executive Email Carpet Bomb (EECB) to get results when all other avenues have failed.

Except the oppression has recently seemed more like consumer inconvenience and entitlement, and the commentors have responded with ire and disbelief at the petty shit people will use EECBs on, like managing to get themselves on the wrong plane and only being flown home for free by JetBlue, or a fast food chain that is completely incompetent and should fire all workers at one store because they forgot the pickles. And the fries were cold!

Any other website wouldn’t take the readers to task for calling out bullshit abuse of utilities that should be saved for truly horrendous customer screwing, or wouldn’t post such ridiculous complaints at all, except on a very slow news day. The Consumerist, however, Is Taking This Seriously and put forth a Ten Commandments (of sorts) regarding posts. No longer can you say that the original poster’s argument is without merit. You cannot blame the consumer. You cannot, essentially, criticize the consumer or the site moderators. Oh no. All you are allowed to do, in public on the site, is offer advice, unless the only advice warranted is “shut your fucking mouth and stop your bitching, you idiot.” Oh no! Their consumers are beautiful, precious, infallible snowflakes that cannot be criticized or called to task for acting like the humans in a certain new Pixar film.

But I honestly don’t know which is more reprehensible: what this bastard did to that poor girl or the comments on the USA Today page about the incident, which include taking a shotgun and “blowing his teeth through the back of his head” and other forms of torture. Then, there are the blatantly racist comments about how raping children is “normal” or “acceptable” for “Mexicans” and that if America stopped letting immigrants in, this wouldn’t happen. (Because, you know, there aren’t any white, American men who go all Rapey McGee on children. That only happens in Mexico. And Austria.) And then there are the people who turn it into an anti-abortion cry with “we never would have caught him if she’d had a late term abortion” because, you know, the girl’s word or the DNA test on the fetus would have been bullshit. Especially the girl’s word, though, because you know those little girls, always lying about being raped by older men….