October 30, 2016

Was that a "racist" costume at the University of Wisconsin football game last night?

Here's the tweet that got it started:



And I see the UW twitter feed immediately responded: "Thanks for letting us know— Can you tell us what section you took this photo in?" and "We don't support offensive image of a noose, but this is a form of free speech. Guest Services asked them to remove & they did."

And the UW quickly put out this statement:



It was the night of Freakfest, Madison's Halloween revelry downtown, and the early evening football game — a few blocks away from the Freakfest location — was part of a huge social occasion yesterday. (Meade and I holed up inside, watched the game on TV, and went to bed early as the sound of screaming revelers moved farther away from the stadium area to State Street.) So there were some costumes at the game, and as you can see from the statement, the rules were that you could wear a mask once you got inside the stadium.

I don't like depictions of lynching political figures. Here's an old post of mine expressing dismay over a sign picturing the lynching of Scott Walker. And later, I linked back to that post, saying "I said imagine how Democrats would react if Tea Partiers had... depict[ed] a Democratic Party politician as Hitler or with his head in a noose."

And I agree that there is a special problem with showing a black person with his head in a noose, given the history of lynching in America.

But take a closer look at that tweeted picture. See the hand with the peace sign? The person is facing away from the camera. The Obama mask is on the back of the head. We see the shape of a larger mask in front. And if you look closely at the pink sign, the words are Hillary Clinton's: "What difference at this point does it make?" I assume the mask on the front-side of the head depicts Hillary Clinton. And yes, poking around, I see this view of the front of the person. It is a big Hillary Clinton face, and there's another person with a big Trump mask and he's holding the other end of the rope. The rope-holding Trump is walking the noosed Hillary in the manner of Pozzo leading Lucky in Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot":



I have no idea if the costumed football fans intended to allude to the Nobelist's great play in which no one gets lynched: 2 characters — Lucky and Pozzo — are connected by a noose that works as a leash, and the other 2 characters — Vladimir and Estragon — consider hanging themselves:
ESTRAGON: What about hanging ourselves?
VLADIMIR: Hmm. It'd give us an erection.
ESTRAGON: (highly excited). An erection!
VLADIMIR: With all that follows. Where it falls mandrakes grow. That's why they shriek when you pull them up. Did you not know that?
ESTRAGON: Let's hang ourselves immediately!
But I think the political theater in the football stadium was intended to express Hillary's criminality and/or Trump's use of the idea that Hillary is a criminal. It could simply be that Hillary and Trump are bound together in a horrible drama that's scaring us, Halloween style.

What, then, of the Obama mask on the back of the head? What a distraction! What does a mask on the back of the head mean? I see that a mask worn on the back of the head may be a device to ward off predators while your back is turned:
Arguing that [the Bengal tiger] only attacks people from behind, workers in the mangrove forests started wearing face masks on the backs of their heads. Thus far the trick appears to have worked.
Mandrakes, mangroves... don't think too hard. It's only Halloween. What is the meaning of the costumes? If you have a nonracist message, take the trouble to edit out the part that will allow viewers to say "That's racist" or they'll never hear whatever it is you are trying to say.

Or do you want to talk about freedom of speech law? I'll take the position that UW handled it pretty well. They conveyed the importance of free-speech values and stressed that they merely asked the person to remove the mask. They reasoned with him and he accepted their point of view — don't make other people feel afraid or disrespected — and he removed "the offensive parts of the costume." That is, he accepted the argument that parts of the costume were offensive and that it would be better not to offend. He bought what the university was selling in the marketplace of ideas. Or that's my working theory until somebody gives me reason to think he was coerced.

IN THE COMMENTS: 2 excellent corrections:

Gahrie said:
Not all lynching was racial. While the Democrats in the South did concentrate on lynching Black people during the Jim Crow era, in the Old West and historically, it was mainly White people who were lynched. 
Grimson said:
AA: 2 characters — Lucky and Pozzo — are connected by a noose that works as a leash

The text mentions only a rope, not a noose, so clearly these are not a couple of Beckett devotees.

Beckett: Enter Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo drives Lucky by means of a rope passed round his neck. . .
Thanks for both of those. Just to rebalance a little, I'll say: 1. In the mind of present-day Americans, lynching is most likely to be associated with the history of racial injustices, and 2. In the photograph of the "Godot" production I've used and in other productions I've seen pictures of, the rope was tied in the classic "hangman's noose" knot. But I can see, with further research, that the rope isn't always tied that way in productions of "Godot" and also see that in real life, nooses don't always have the "hangman's noose" knot and that a rope with a knot put around a man's neck is perhaps fairly called a noose even when the text omits that explicit characterization of the rope.

126 comments:

Tim said...

Say anything bad about a democrat and all hell breaks loose. Esp. one protected by "black democratium". None of this rises to the levels of hatred directed at GWB.

Ann Althouse said...

The street theater of hanging a political figure in effigy is well-entrenched in American history:

"In colonial Boston there was a surefire way to gather a crowd: hang an effigy, or dummy, of just about any authority figure.... Two effigies were discovered at dawn on August 14th: one was a crude figure of Andrew Oliver, Boston's Stamp Act Commissioner and the brother-in-law of the colony's second highest ranking official, Lt. Governor Thomas Hutchinson. The other was a large boot, with a devil peeking out — a reference to the Earl of Bute, the English lawmaker who was the architect of the Stamp Act. As a crowd began to gather, everyone expected the usual — a day of mockery and high spirits...."

That's quite separate from the history of lynching, which was racial and murderous.

Hagar said...

Back of the head - Voldemort in the professor's body?

Karen said...

Probably a Clinton supporter trying to get Trump supporters tarred as racist.

Ann Althouse said...

From October 2008: "The mayor of West Hollywood has condemned a Halloween display resembling Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hanging by a noose."... t hangs in front of the North Orange Grove Avenue house of the display's creator, Chad Michael Morrisette, who also put up a depiction of Republican presidential candidate John McCain engulfed in flames. Mayor Jeffry Prang asked in a statement that the display be taken down and said: "I respect that we all have the right to freedom of speech. However, with that right comes responsibility". "While these residents have the legal right to display Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin in effigy, I strongly oppose political speech that references violence -- real or perceived," he added.... Morissette does admit that if he had put up a display resembling Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama hanging from a noose, "people would've probably thrown things through our windows.""

Ann Althouse said...

"Voldemort in the professor's body"

Sorry, I don't know much of the Harry Potter lore. Is there the face of another on the back of a character's head? What did it mean?

Wince said...

What, then, of the Obama mask on the back of the head?

It was one of two things: Either it was an allusion to the mythological Janus or, as I suspect, after a few beers, anything can sound like a good idea.

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, doorways, passages, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past... As a god of transitions, he had functions pertaining to birth and to journeys and exchange, and in his association with Portunus, a similar harbor and gateway god, he was concerned with travelling, trading and shipping.

David Begley said...

Only Althouse - and I want to emphasize her singular nature - could connect that mask to "Waiting for Godot." My guess is that the fan never heard of that play. Deconstruction to the max in pure Althouse style.

But a good win for the Badgers. Corn played better than I expected. Jordan Westerkamp is a star.

The Nebraska-Wisconsin rivalry was sealed last night.

And did you know that the winner gets The Freedom Trophy? If Nebraska beats Iowa the prize is The Hy-Vee Heroes trophy. I love Hy-Vee but really....

Ann Althouse said...

Whoa! Now, this is freaking me out. I looked up "face of another on the back of someone's head" and the first thing that came up was Edward Mordake:

"Edward Mordrake, said to be heir to an English peerage, had an extra face on the back of his head. The duplicate face could neither see nor eat nor speak out loud but was said to "smile while Mordrake was happy" and "sneer while Mordrake was weeping". Mordrake repeatedly begged doctors to have his "demon face" removed, claiming that it whispered things that "one would only speak about in hell" at night, but no doctor would attempt it. He committed suicide at the age of 23."

This is after I found it weird that my musings had landed on both mandrakes and mangroves. See in the post: "Mandrakes, mangroves... don't think too hard. It's only Halloween."

And now here's Mordrake with the mandrake and the mangrove. Spooky!!

rhhardin said...

Shriek! A noose! (gathers up petticoats)

Ann Althouse said...

"It was one of two things: Either it was an allusion to the mythological Janus or, as I suspect, after a few beers, anything can sound like a good idea."

Yes, I thought of Janus too. It makes sense to have Obama looking backwards. His time is the soon-to-be-past.

Oso Negro said...

And it's a great day for Wisconsin to broadcast their sensitivity! The tweeting "woahohkatie" is a real piece of work though. A precioius, posturing snowflake.

Here is one of her missives:


😏 ‏@woahohkatie 16h16 hours ago
I've lived such a privileged life that this is the most explicit racism I've ever experienced firsthand. I feel so powerless to it.

rhhardin said...

I'm guessing that they don't teach the noose as a Boy Scout knot any longer.

Nor, probably, do they have knives.

When they did teach the noose, blacks were not in mind. It was just a cool knot.

Gahrie said...

Wanna bet the guy was told take the "offensive" mask off or we'll throw you out of the game?

Gahrie said...

That's quite separate from the history of lynching, which was racial and murderous.

Not all lynching was racial.

While the Democrats in the South did concentrate on lynching Black people during the Jim Crow era, in the Old West and historically, it was mainly White people who were lynched.

David said...

Do you have a noose around your neck or are you just glad to see me?

Gahrie said...

Sorry, I don't know much of the Harry Potter lore. Is there the face of another on the back of a character's head?

Yes.

What did it mean?

The person was a dupe and possessed by the person whose face was on the back of his head.

HT said...

Ann, no doubt that everyone realizes defacing effigies is a bipartisan activity. I have friends who've burned Bush I effigies.

The thing at the game last night - well, where to start? There are many levels to discuss this on, including yours. And you are correct. Lynching has a particular history.

But for me, there's more to it. I'm sure I am not alone at the vertigo I sometimes feel as I watch and cheer the game on the field (or switch radios if that one is not giving me the result I want) and then look around and see all the white faces in the stands, save a tiny patch here and there in sections reserved for families of the players. Had I had a choice in the matter, I am not sure I would have been a fan. It got in the blood early, I don't feel like I had a choice. But that's no excuse. We live with contradictions and I love football.

I won't try to speculate as to why but watching the games at either Bryant Denny or Legion Field, did not feel like the .... rally .... it sometimes does now (and I’m talking about many if not most college football games all over the country). Mostly, I went to see the Bear.

Michael K said...

13 became an unlucky number after the 13 loops on a noose used for hanging and the 13 steps to the gallows.

"the history of lynching, which was racial and murderous."

Which was the subject of annual anti-lynching legislation introduced by Republicans in Congress every year in the 1920s and 1930s and defeated each year by Democrats.

Bay Area Guy said...

Number of lynchngs in USA since 1882

Whites 1297
Blacks 3445

Total: 4742

http://law2.umkc.edu/Faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchingyear.html

Not good, obviously.

Compare: no. of murders in Chicago since 1965:

About 38,500

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1998-01-01/news/9801010303_1_violent-crimes-crack-market-crime-data

Perspective is in order

grimson said...

There probably is not much thought involved here at all other than that they thought it was funny. As for any point they were trying to make, (1) it's lost because the picture and video fail to make their sign legible, and (2) if it is primarily a slam of Mrs. Clinton or Trump it has failed because all the pictures and news accounts are about the back of their costumes and the noose on Obama--there won't be any news accounts about Mrs. Clinton in a prison suit with a noose around her neck held by Donald Trump.

Ken B said...

Godot is more likely than Harry Potter? On what planet?
Maybe it's just suggesting Clinton and Obama both?

Wince said...

Yikes, come to think of it, no matter what end of the noose you depict yourself on there can be racial implications.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Custom can only be judged in its entirety. If it were a Democrat doing it we would be sure to see the entire message on both sides and aside from photos it would be transcribed. Thus, mission accomplished. This from what can be seen of the Sun he is wearing, is political speech.

Birkel said...

Somewhere there is a racist depiction of Scott Walker in papier mache.

n.n said...

Number of lynchngs in USA since 1882

Whites 1297
Blacks 3445


The question is who selectively exploits these actions for political leverage.

buwaya said...

News this am is that the NYU prof who was tweeting (anonymously but it seems not anonymously enough) against PC foolishness has been put on paid leave for the rest of the semester.
Seems sone faculty committee was offended.
Story on the NY Post.

mockturtle said...

Too bad the big story wasn't the Badgers' win over Nebraska. I watched the game and the Badgers' defense was impressive.

Though I didn't get to watch my beloved Washington Huskies, they did win and are now 8-0 and ranked #4. Go Dawgs!

Yancey Ward said...

The offender should have offered to switch who was holding the end of the noose.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Ann,

Yeah, in the first Harry Potter book, Voldemort has taken up residence in the head of a guy named Quirrell. The dude wears a turban for practically the whole book so that no one can see his little buddy.

grimson said...

AA: 2 characters — Lucky and Pozzo — are connected by a noose that works as a leash

The text mentions only a rope, not a noose, so clearly these are not a couple of Beckett devotees.

Beckett: Enter Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo drives Lucky by means of a rope passed round his neck. . .

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Michael K,

I think 13 became an unlucky number way earlier, with the twelve apostles and Judas.

lemondog said...

..effigies is a bipartisan activity

Liberal Protester Beheads Donald Trump Effigy in Salt Lake

Gahrie said...

I think 13 became an unlucky number way earlier

I don't know about the number 13...but Friday the 13th became associated with bad luck and evil after the French King attacked the Knights Templar on a Friday the 13th.

MadTownGuy said...

"...if you look closely at the pink sign, the words are Hillary Clinton's: "What difference at this point does it make?", i.e., no difference between Barack and Hillary; more of the same.

Larvell said...

"the twelve apostles and Judas"

Judas was one of the twelve, not the thirteenth.

Bay Area Guy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I agree that they handled it appropriately. It's good that they didn't start by threatening to remove, but I'd maintain that's still their right to do that if he was a dismissive jackass about it and didn't agree.

But in general, requests to comply with more civil speech environments are better than demands. We seem to not want to do that enough.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Sometimes I wonder if administrators for commenting forums couldn't benefit by a function that enlarges or shrinks a comment's text based on how popular or unpopular, upvoted or downvoted it is. If a comment is truly felt to be disruptive or harmful or of no value at all, the number of down votes could shrink it to a nearly microscopic font. And if a commenting community (potentially with greater voting values awarded to administrators) felt that a comment was particularly worthy and redeeming, its font could be increased to 12 or 14 point. Everyone else would start with a standard 8 or 9 point font, to be increased based on popularity or decreased if unliked down to oblivion, 6 point or even 4 point or less.

A particularly hated comment might even become barely unreadable, with a tiny disclaimer indicating how disliked it is, with an option to momentarily zoom for the reader who had just scrolled by it.

Danno said...

UW-Madison handled this well and they also handled the recent campus rape issue well by involving law enforcement at both the campus and city level, so they certainly appear to have their act together compared to the drama schools that can't do anything that makes sense.

Bay Area Guy said...


In 1965, the Democratic Party initiated the War on Poverty.

It had noble intentions. The plan was to take some wealth from the productive class, and use the $$ to create a safety net through government programs that were intended to benefit poor blacks.

At the time, 75% of blacks were born to married couples and the crime rate was low.

50 years later, only 25% of blacks are born to married couples, crime has soared, and the inner cities are much worse (see, Detroit, Baltimore, south-side Chicago).

Any regrets?

(Yes, Halloween costumes concerning Obama masks and nooses are in extreme bad taste)

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Anyone else notice that the girl's Twitter feed is captioned by a photo of some woman (from a film scene?) not showing the top of her head flipping off the audience/viewer with both fingers? Just thought it worth mentioning. Not all free speech is equally free or welcomed.

Rosalyn C. said...

No one ever criticizes Obama unless they are a "racist." My closest liberal friend firmly believes that "racist Republicans" are the reason Obama has not accomplished more (ignoring his catastrophic foreign policy blunders in Libya and Syria and the incompetent Affordable Care Act).

Isn't it spooky that Obama is like Mohammed in that it is also forbidden these days to make a picture of the Muslim prophet or to mock him? I bet Obama could start a new religion if he wanted to.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Well, Chatt - it's comments like that that get them to wondering if you're really critiquing policy or performance, instead of just identity. One of those approaches is much more open to the kind of interpretation you dislike than the other. As it should be.

mockturtle said...

I think 13 became an unlucky number way earlier, with the twelve apostles and Judas.


Actually, Judas was one of twelve apostles and was later replaced by Matthias.

mockturtle said...

Sorry, Larvell, you beat me to it.

Real American said...

Clearly referencing an execution of a prisoner, not simply Obama. Death penalty is clearly different than actions by a racist lynch mob.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Right. Because so many more presidents meet their death through execution than through assassination. Whatever.

rhhardin said...

Even today I use a bowline all over. It's my go-to knot.

rhhardin said...

Picture an enraged mob carrying a bowline. That could do the knot in.

rhhardin said...

What's next. The square knot, probably.

Soon even shoelaces won't work.

Curious George said...

The tweeter had earlier said "I can't imagine what it must be like for people of color who have this experience this disgusting amount of hate everyday. I feel sick."

Well you have to imagine. Because the only black face in that crowd is on the Obama mask. It's as white as a Madison council meeting. If you give the UW time though they probably could photoshop one in.

rhhardin said...

The snake goes out of the pool, around the tree, and back into the pool.

There's original sin itself.

rhhardin said...

Blacks today should feel bemusement from whites, not hate.

A how long before you grow up feeling.

bagoh20 said...

"If you have a nonracist message, take the trouble to edit out the part that will allow viewers to say "That's racist" or they'll never hear whatever it is you are trying to say."

Yea, good luck with that if you are making a statement from the Right. Much of the Trump phenomenon is a reaction to the Tea Party and others being called racist for nearly anything they did, thus the idea now is to provoke the outrage upfront, much like like Blacks do with using he N-word. To make the charge lose it's power to distract, while ironically drawing attention. The possibility of overt racism in this message actually served its purpose. That's why you posted it.

buwaya said...

http://nypost.com/2016/10/30/nyu-professor-who-opposed-pc-culture-gets-booted-from-classroom/

Professor who tweeted against PC culture out at NYU

An NYU professor crusading against political correctness and student coddling was booted from the classroom last week after his colleagues complained about his “incivility,” The Post has learned.

Liberal studies prof Michael Rectenwald, 57, said he was forced Wednesday to go on paid leave for the rest of the semester.

“They are actually pushing me out the door for having a different perspective,” the academic told The Post.

Rectenwald launched an undercover Twitter account called Deplorable NYU Prof on Sept. 12 to argue against campus trends like “safe spaces,” “trigger warnings” and other aspects of academia’s growing PC culture.

Curious George said...

There are more blacks on the field at Camp Randall than in the stands.

Diversity!

HT said...

You think blacks use the N word to provoke outrage, bagoh20?

rcocean said...

Can't we just pass a law against Nooses?

I've never seen one that wasn't racist.

We need to spare black people's feelings.

Cattle and Rodeo animals wouldn't object either.

Michael K said...

"Liberal studies prof Michael Rectenwald"

Good grief. What do they learn in "Liberal Studies?"

I'm surprised to find someone in that field who notices PC,

Birkel said...

buwaya puti:

Elie Wiesel was unavailable to comment at NYU.

Curious George said...

It appears that the rest of the 80,321 attendees went as white people! RACIST!

Phunctor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Phunctor said...

And I agree that there is a special problem with showing a black person with his head in a noose, given the history of lynching in America.

I'm glad you brought that up. Most people have no idea of the numbers involved. There was a yearly average of 40 lynchings of black people per year in the United States, 1882-1968. So what?

You're welcome to your religion, but your icons are not my icons. The special problem is that you expect me to treat them with reverence. No.

Birkel said...

The roving bands of miscreants attacking Temple students were unavailable for comment on events in Madison.

HT said...

"There was a yearly average of 40 lynchings of black people per year in the United States, 1882-1968. So what?"

I don't know the numbers exactly, but you say 40 a year, including the years many of us were very much alive, and that does not make you want to vomit? Really?

mccullough said...

As long as we're speculating, maybe the noose represents the Attorney General. Black woman named Lynch is interesting

buwaya said...

"Good grief. What do they learn in "Liberal Studies?"

They have renamed everything to something PC.

I really like this program at Chico State for instance, I have met with them several times - this really is hardcore Manufacturing/Metalworking Tech -

https://www.csuchico.edu/mmem/programs/bsmanufacturing_technology/index.shtml

Note its "sustainable" manufacturing just to make it acceptable to TPTB that just hate "manufacturing" - or anything real. There is a layer of disgusting scum running everything.

Birkel said...

HT:

How many times have you vomited over the murders in Chicago this year?

Birkel said...

HT:

At some point that amount of vomit indicates an underlying medical attention that would need immediate medical care. Quit posting here and get to an Emergency Room, stat!

buwaya said...

"I don't know the numbers exactly, but you say 40 a year, including the years many of us were very much alive, and that does not make you want to vomit? Really?"

There is so much going on that is terrible in this world, and much else that has happened at some point or another, including that of course, I think we would spend every minute of everyday vomiting. Naturally you can't live like that, so one has to be selective about vomiting. The interesting thing is how you select what to vomit about.

Linda said...

I was surprised this morning when I saw articles about this costume. We saw the Hillary and Donald faces and the noose as the two individuals made their way up the the stairs in our section - but never turned around to view them from behind. We were keeping our eyes on the football game!

mockturtle said...

There is so much going on that is terrible in this world, and much else that has happened at some point or another, including that of course, I think we would spend every minute of everyday vomiting. Naturally you can't live like that, so one has to be selective about vomiting. The interesting thing is how you select what to vomit about.

You are correct, buwaya! Too much vomiting upsets one's electrolyte balance.

Achilles said...

Blogger HT said...
"There was a yearly average of 40 lynchings of black people per year in the United States, 1882-1968. So what?"

I don't know the numbers exactly, but you say 40 a year, including the years many of us were very much alive, and that does not make you want to vomit? Really?

This is fucking pathetic. At 40 per year it would take thousands of years to equal the number of people who died to end slavery. Almost all white people by the way. Muslims kill this many gay people by throwing them off of roofs monthly. They stone this many women to death for adultery weekly. This many girls are sold at the sex slave markets daily.

You don't actually care. You are a liar.

This many black people are shot by other black people daily. We understand your bullshit selective outrage. You don't want to actually fix any real problems. It is all virtue signaling hiding the moral depravity of the left.

rcocean said...

"There was a yearly average of 40 lynchings of black people per year in the United States, 1882-1968."

Bullshit. Of course, Facts don't matter to SJW's - its the thought that counts. Its only a lie if it hurts "the cause".

Fact: From 1946-1964 exactly 14 black people were "Lynched". None were lynched after 1964. From 1936-1946 exactly 50. That's 64 in the last 80 years. Nowhere near to "40 lynchings a year".



rcocean said...

BTW, did you know that almost 1,300 white people were lynched from 1882-1968?

Fen said...

Another reason to vote Trump. Because with Hillary, "that's sexist!" will be the new black for 8 years.

Sick of all this identity politics crap. Its like the Dems think Blacks and Women are too inferior to be mocked.

Fen said...

"You don't actually care. You are a liar."

Its worse than that - HT is using blacks as prop to promote racial divisiveness.

We need to bring back tar and feathering.

Yancey Ward said...

Curious George wins the thread hilariously!

"Well you have to imagine. Because the only black face in that crowd is on the Obama mask. It's as white as a Madison council meeting. If you give the UW time though they probably could photoshop one in."

Racist camera! It needed to be pointed at the African-American fan section located in Milwaukee.

Fen said...

Rhythm and Balls: Sometimes I wonder if administrators for commenting forums couldn't benefit by a function that enlarges or shrinks a comment's text based on how popular or unpopular, upvoted or downvoted it is. If a comment is truly felt to be disruptive or harmful or of no value at all, the number of down votes could shrink it to a nearly microscopic font.

No. That only encourages group think - mob rule. And your side routinely abuses that feature when its available. You have paid trolls on reddit doing it at this very moment.

Freedom of speech is not a popularity contest. And that's hard for the Left to understand, because they really only adopted their politics on what would make them popular with their social network. It explains why your positions are always all over the board and so situational, so hypocritical - you don't really have any principles, you just follow the herd.

Yancey Ward said...

I agree with Fen- don't let the commenters control what is seen from others. About the only thing I would really like to see is up and down votes with sorting functionality, but I don't want stuff hidden in any way.

Voting up and down is imperfect, but isn't censorious.

Phunctor said...

HT - Life is full of desperately sad and horrible events.

The ones promoting your emesis, rather than e.g. the facts surrounding the murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, have been brought to your attention by people of a specific ideology, with a specific agenda, for specific purposes. You would do well to understand these people and their purposes, agendas, and ideology. If you find you actually support them, good enough, see ya at the main event. If not you should remove their hand from your ass and cease being their sock-puppet.

Phunctor said...

rcocean, I took the most adverse to my case statistics I could find. 3446, 1882-1968, to avoid exposure to claims of cherry-picking the data.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Freedom of speech is not a popularity contest.

Which blogs/websites do you comment on that are owned by the government? You seem really opposed to property rights for website owners.

And that's hard for the Left to understand, because they really only adopted their politics on what would make them popular with their social network. It explains why your positions are always all over the board and so situational, so hypocritical - you don't really have any principles, you just follow the herd.

So says someone who will kill whomever he's ordered to kill. For a living. More PTSD talk.

My "positions" account for reality. You're just someone who needs arbitrary rules because the only relationships you understand are forms of submission and domination. Hierarchy. So when your goofy emotions finally "pop out", you end up making the Constitution itself situational and pretend that your 1st amendment right trumps someone else's property rights. If you were less of a leech you would get your own blog, and maybe get a better idea of learning how to deal with the reality of when people comment on that. But as a submissive herd follower you could never stand to put yourself out there like that.

mockturtle said...

During Nixon's administration some wore Nixon masks in a most unflattering manner and yes, he was sometimes hanged in effigy. But, then, Nixon wasn't black.....

Titus said...

Madison and Wisconsin are really white....and fat, natch.

HT said...

" HT - Life is full of desperately sad and horrible events. "

You got that right. The rest of what you wrote is muddled, hypocritical and impolite (because I object to black lynchings, I do not object to the brutal murders of white people, what????), indicative of not knowing anything about me, which I have not hid in my comments, and reflective of how you feel and act when someone disagrees with you.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Reality should be made to conform to Fen's need to see the world in a neat and orderly way. I always know that independent people who aren't herd followers can't deal with reality and need a whole army of people to destroy the haphazard "situational" state of the world as it is.

Curious George said...

"mockturtle said...
During Nixon's administration some wore Nixon masks in a most unflattering manner and yes, he was sometimes hanged in effigy. But, then, Nixon wasn't a Democrat.....

FIFY

n.n said...

[class] diversity.

James Pawlak said...

1. Very much "political free speech" wherein "Guest Services" was suppressing such; And,
2. A prophesy?

n.n said...

Perhaps a rubber necklace would be tolerable.

n.n said...

Or a graphic reenactment of an abortion rite normalized for the "benefit" of the full [class] diversity spectrum including black commodities.

Ann Althouse said...

"The text mentions only a rope, not a noose, so clearly these are not a couple of Beckett devotees. 'Beckett: Enter Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo drives Lucky by means of a rope passed round his neck. . .'"

Thanks. I feel that I've always seen a noose, as in the photograph I used, but you seem to be right about the text. And I looked at more pictures on line and video of many productions, including one that YouTube lists as directed by Beckett, and the rope isn't tied into a classic noose-type know.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Shoulda come to the game in a burqua.

MayBee said...

Who is the busy body who has to report a Halloween costume to the authorities?

bagoh20 said...

HT: "You think blacks use the N word to provoke outrage, "

I suppose outrage is a little strong, but it's similar to gays using "fag","queer",and "queen" it gets attention by using offensive words. Many on the right are doing the same kind of thing: using outrageous symbols to get attention. Of course, as with all things, being conservative means being held to a different standard.

eddie willers said...

About a decade ago, I read a book about Atlanta's first (only?) race riot.

Negrophobia: A Race Riot in Atlanta, 1906.

It was almost deja vu in that at that time, the trouble was young, high, black males terrorizing white suburbs and then melting into "Black Bottom" (the book's word) where no snitching was the rule.

So with no security cameras, no DNA, no smartphone recordings and silence from black neighbors, a successful prosecution, based on evidence, was almost nil.

I came to believe that many lynchings were probably ad hoc remedies to a justice system that "failed".

I now also suspect that the number of innocents lynched was small.

Birkel said...

HT is a low-level and uninteresting troll.

Quaestor said...

If you have a nonracist message, take the trouble to edit out the part that will allow viewers to say "That's racist" or they'll never hear whatever it is you are trying to say.

Quaestor advises editing out nothing. Social justice warriors of that ilk are irredeemable idiots who have edited their own minds of history and logic. Do not cast your pearls before swine, and do not weaken your arguments for the sake of being heard by the willfully deaf.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

If I don't like SJWs, am I obligated to defend and condone racists, also? Just wondering.

I kind of hate both. But some of the RJWs here (racial justice warriors) keep telling me I have to decide between them.

I think they deserve each other, honestly.

mockturtle said...

I kind of hate both. But some of the RJWs here (racial justice warriors) keep telling me I have to decide between them.

R&B, we don't have to decide shit! :-D

mockturtle said...

And we know that white SJWs are the biggest racists of all.

Yancey Ward said...

Maybee asked:

"Who is the busy body who has to report a Halloween costume to the authorities?"

Probably HT.

Achilles said...

Blogger Rhythm and Balls said...
"If I don't like SJWs, am I obligated to defend and condone racists, also? Just wondering.

I kind of hate both. But some of the RJWs here (racial justice warriors) keep telling me I have to decide between them.

I think they deserve each other, honestly."

Who are the racists? If you are talking about a bunch of rich white progressives who run the cities and schools that ruin the futures of inner city black people as well as the few thousand skinheads out there I am right there with you.

The GOPe dirtbags, who we are kicking out, who tell black voters there are no problems are a false flag operation. There are problems and most of them originate with a corrupt political class that destroys families and ruined public education.

Sebastian said...

"In the mind of present-day Americans, lynching is most likely to be associated with the history of racial injustices." No wonder UW uses the phony complaint about a Hillary/Trump Halloween costume as a teachable moment to set the populace straight.

Fen said...

Fen: Freedom of speech is not a popularity contest.

Rhythm: Which blogs/websites do you comment on that are owned by the government? You seem really opposed to property rights for website owners.

You are now confusing the principle of free speech with the 1st Amendment.

I guess its time for another "study" to reassure you how "smart" you are.

[pats little Rhythm on the head]

"No really, you are so special! Your piece entitled "ink blot" will be in the Louvre one day!"

Fen said...

Face it, you're just frustrated that your arguments are so weak, you have to resort to Social Conformity tricks to hide the rebuttal.

Laslo Spatula said...

Lamar Gonna Set You Straight...

You White People are the most clueless when you think you even have a clue: damn...

What if I said my Great-Grandfather was lynched?

What if it wasn't my Great-Grandfather, but a family friend of his?

What if it wasn't my Great-Granfather's family friend, but maybe just an acquaintance of the family friend from two towns over?

For a lot of us Black People it don't make much difference.

For a lot of Smart Rich White People it don't make much difference, either, but for the fucking wrong reasons...

I know, I know: all my Great-Grandfathers look alike to you...

You think you got Problems? Fuck You.


I am Laslo.

rcocean said...

"I don't know the numbers exactly either,"

You can go online and get the exact number in 2 seconds by googling. Its an area that has been studied to death.

Of course, after the definitive numbers were reached in the 1970s, you've had leftists and "interested parties" trying to play with the numbers and increase the "Lynch count". Think of all the awards some left-wing "Historian" would get, if they could prove that 10,000 or 50,000 blacks were lynched from 1882-1968 instead of 3,600.

Needless to say, no one is getting paid to determine if the 3,600 number is inflated any more than someone would question the 6,000,0000 number. It would be career suicide.

Howard said...

Althouse: a dumpster full of irredeemable deplorables. Symbols of lynching are OK, but kneeling during the national anthem = boycott the NFL. Clearly, the only black lives that matter to Trumpsters play sports, Ben Carson, Clarence Thomas, Thomas Soul and Denzel Washington.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Freedom of speech is not a popularity contest.

Rhythm: Which blogs/websites do you comment on that are owned by the government? You seem really opposed to property rights for website owners.

You are now confusing the principle of free speech with the 1st Amendment.


They're the same, Dummy. If you want to host a free speech free-for-all on your property (i.e. blog), you're free to get one, and do that. Let the comments fly there. So is any private citizen. Or not. The government cannot force private citizens to host any member of the public on them to endure listening to anything they want to say. There is no constitutional right, in practice OR in "principle", that requires you to listen to me, or me to listen to you, or for me to keep you in my house, or for you to keep me in yours (if you had one), or vice versa. You seem to betray that you are a basement dweller with no significant personal property - otherwise you would get this simple fact. Anyone can say whatever they want, but you are a tyrant who pretends that the government can force citizens to HOST speech that they aren't interested in. There is no way to do such a thing absent the sort of tyranny that you, unwittingly, excel in. Just as there is no way to FORCE association with individuals with whom a citizen may or may not WANT to associate. It's all voluntary and throwing out some mealy-mouth, undefinable reference to a ghost "principle" that no constitution ever spelled out or would ever spell out (even if it could, which it can't), is just a reminder of your faulty PTSD-thinking and a dodge around your weaksauce, vague but obvious contention that people should be FORCED to host the speech of others.

I guess its time for another "study" to reassure you how "smart" you are.

Yeah, well, there you go with taking pride in how dumb you are and how much resentment you have toward actual research. As if research was necessary to call you out for pretending that you could force others to undertake the supposed virtue of hosting other people's comments.

Get your own fucking blog, you free speech leech. Publish anything you want. Say whatever you want. Get all your Nazis and hippies and liberals and retrogrades to yell at each other aimlessly all you want. Principal Free Speech Leech. I'm sure it would be a great boon to free discourse.

Of course, that would take you actually sticking your neck out and being the proprietor for the "principle" you pretend to hold so dear. Which of course your emergency battlefield orchiectomy prevents you from doing.

What a dildo. Grow up. Or grow a pair. One or the other. Either way, stop being a troll.

Curious George said...

"Howard said...
Althouse: a dumpster full of irredeemable deplorables. Symbols of lynching are OK, but kneeling during the national anthem = boycott the NFL. Clearly, the only black lives that matter to Trumpsters play sports, Ben Carson, Clarence Thomas, Thomas Soul and Denzel Washington."

You're embarrassing yourself.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

"No really, you are so special! Your piece entitled "ink blot" will be in the Louvre one day!"

Lol. Again. So says the dipshit who thinks he's entitled to force private citizens to host his idiotic and completely worthless comments.

Face it, you're just frustrated that your arguments are so weak, you have to resort to Social Conformity tricks to hide the rebuttal.

It's good that your salary/pension is so low that you still dream of becoming a psychologist one day. Especially given how much you hate research. What would that do to your income... increase it by like 500%? Well, one can dream. You sure are a dreamer.

Howard said...

CG: Thanks for letting me know I hit the bulls-eye. All's it takes is sight alignment, sight picture and a steady pull on a gentle exhale. I am also very very stupid and immoral, so that covers a few other deplorable's Pavlovian responses.

Gahrie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gahrie said...

Woo Hoo..another front page mention on Althouse...I can die happy now.

Gahrie said...

In 1965, the Democratic Party initiated the War on Poverty.

A war that we literally cannot ever win. First of all, the government moves the goal posts, by changing the definition of poverty, every year. Secondly, if we gave every person in the United States a million dollars tomorrow, the new definition of poverty next year would be "only has a million dollars". There will always be someone richer than someone else, which means there will always be someone poorer. If civilization disappeared, and we were all reduced to using rocks and sticks....someone would have more sticks than someone else.

What you have to do is look at standard of living instead. Have we improved the standard of living of all Americans since 1965? Hell yeah. For the first time in history, the primary problem the poor have is obesity! It is possible to possess an incredible amount of material wealth, and a standard of living higher than 95% of all humans who have ever lived, and still be classified as poor by the U.S. government.

mockturtle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mockturtle said...

Jesus said, 'The poor you will always have with you..'. A War on Poverty, a War on Drugs, a War on Terror....all hollow endeavors for the state. All of these are spiritual battles.

Jon Ericson said...

better picture

D. B. Light said...

Properly viewed, EVERYTHING is racist.

sdharms said...

lynching has a connotation of illegality and bigotry. In the south, it was HANGING that was actual punishment for a crime, and followed due process (mostly, as my 5yr old grandson said when I asked him if he was behaving himself at kindergarten)

sdharms said...

Althouse: why do you not block Laslo? He obviously is mentally ill, and to continue to allow him to vent is exploitative.

Birkel said...

The amazing powers of psychiatry that can be performed on the internet.

Rusty said...

sdharms said...
Althouse: why do you not block Laslo? He obviously is mentally ill, and to continue to allow him to vent is exploitative.

When I grow up I want to be just like Lazlo.