Dangerous Metaphors: How Dehumanizing Rhetoric Works | Dangerous Speech Project

Guest blogger Dr. Anna Szilagyi describes how dehumanizing rhetoric – a key hallmark of Dangerous Speech – affects our thoughts and perceptions, making violence more acceptable.

Dangerous Metaphors: How Dehumanizing Rhetoric Works | Dangerous Speech Project

Sasha Baron Cohen's keynote speech et the ADL Awards

If you do one thing this weekend to challenge the industrialised promotion of hate & bigotry - share this video https://t.co/sbDpCMstyW - worth watching in full #StartSpreadingLove #StopFundingHate

— Stop Funding Hate (@StopFundingHate) 23 November 2019

Please watch this magnificent speech to the end. Cohen is an educated, intelligent and impassioned speaker. He also brings some of his characters to illustrate his arguments.

Call to electoral action from the ACLU

Hi I can't say it enough: Elections matter. The 2016 elections brought us the Muslim Ban, transgender military ban, family separations, and the further undermining of women's reproductive freedom. Exactly 100 days from now, many of our civil rights and civil liberties will be on the ballot in the 2018 midterm elections. Our vote is one of the most powerful tools we have to defend our democracy and expand rights for all. That's why we launched ACLU Voter, a program to mobilize voters nationwide to engage in the upcoming midterm elections – up and down the ticket – and vote like our rights depend on it. JOIN THE CALL We're holding an important call this Wednesday at 8pm ET / 5pm PT to discuss our strategy for galvanizing voters in 2018. Activists across the country will be calling in – can you join too? You'll hear from my colleagues who are in the heart of the fight. We'll talk in detail about what's at stake with the upcoming elections, and what actions you can take right now to make sure everyone is voting like our rights depend on it. This election season, we envision empowered voters heading to the polls to choose candidates who will uphold our rights and liberties across the country, in every town and city. If every ACLU supporter votes like our rights depend on it this November, we will make a huge impact. All of us have a role to play if we're going to make this vision a reality. That's why I hope you can join this nationwide mass call for a rundown of our next steps to mobilize voters everywhere. Sign up here to join us this Wednesday at 8pm ET / 5pm PT. I hope you can join, Faiz Shakir ACLU National Political Director

No Hate Speech Movement

"Hate speech, as defined by the Council of Europe, covers all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or other forms of hatred based on intolerance, including: intolerance expressed by aggressive nationalism and ethnocentrism, discrimination and hostility against minorities, migrants and people of immigrant origin."

(Don't read the comments to this on YouTube: they are of course mostly ignorant hate from the very bullies the movement seeks to reeducate).

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Objectives of the No Hate campaign

• To raise awareness about hate speech online and its risks for democracy and for individual young people, and promoting media and Internet literacy;
• To support young people in standing up for human rights, online and offline;
• To reduce the levels of acceptance of online hate speech;
• To mobilise, train and network online youth activists for human rights;
• To map hate speech online and develop tools for constructive responses;
• To support and show solidarity to people and groups targeted by hate speech online;
• To advocate for the development and consensus on European policy instruments combating hate speech;
• To develop youth participation and citizenship online.

The official site of the No Hate Speech Movement is here.

You'll also find the latest posts on their site in the FEEDS section of this blog.

Meet Le Pen's friends at Trump Tower - EUObserver

On 12 January, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was spotted by photographers drinking coffee at Trump Tower in New York.

She suggested at the time that she wanted to meet with then US president-elect Donald Trump, but it didn't work out.

What few people know is that the night before, a cocktail party was organised in the same building to raise funds for her political party, the National Front (FN).

The party was organised by an Italian businessman George "Guido" Lombardi.

Lombardi, who lives in Trump Tower, has close links with the European far-right, especially Italy's Lega Nord. He says that he has been a friend of Marine Le Pen for 20 years.

"There were people [at the party] who were favorable to her, supporters, people who are friends of mine, entrepreneurs, at least three UN ambassadors, some political consultants and advisers," Lombardi told EUobserver in a recent phone interview.

He refused to give names but described the guests that came to meet Le Pen as "American businessmen, American representatives from Wall Street, Israeli businessmen, a couple of Russian businessmen*, a couple of Asian businessmen, a couple of Italians, some French nationals"...

Read the rest at Meet Le Pen's friends at Trump Tower

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* Our emphasis

ACLU: "Trump discriminated. We sued."

This morning the ACLU and several other legal organizations filed a lawsuit on behalf of two Iraqi men who were en route to the United States when President Trump issued an executive order banning many Muslims from entering the country.

The lead plaintiffs were detained by the U.S. government and threatened with deportation – even though they have valid visas to enter the United States.

One plaintiff, Hameed Khalid Darweesh, worked for the U.S. military. His life was in danger in his home country due to that relationship. A former Obama administration official and platoon commander during the invasion of Iraq said on Twitter yesterday that Mr. Darweesh "spent years keeping U.S. soldiers alive in combat in Iraq."

The family of the other plaintiff, Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, was also threatened because of perceived ties to the United States. His wife and 7-year-old son are lawful permanent residents living in Houston, Texas and were eagerly awaiting his arrival. Mr. Alshawi’s son has not seen his father for three years.

Tellingly, Trump’s executive order authorizes the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security to admit refugees on a "case-by-case" basis, for people of a minority religion in their home countries. In effect, Trump has barred Muslims from entering the United States, while favoring the entry of Christians.

 Mr. Darweesh was just released from detention at John F. Kennedy International Airport this afternoon, but Mr. Alshawi and others remain in detention. The ACLU and its supporters will not stand for the Trump administration’s unconstitutional discrimination. Today, and every day, we will fight back.

For more information on our lawsuit, please see https://www.aclu.org/cases/darweesh-v-trump.

Normalisation of extremism - David Colquhoun

I put some thoughts about normalisation of extremists on my FB page pic.twitter.com/6gVkMEZUSi

— David Colquhoun (@david_colquhoun) 15 November 2016

Trump Spamfile 23 Oct 2016: The Wall

And on the 7th day, Trump did rest and only sent out 2 unsolicited begging letters. Still nothing about Poll Watching, and the incomparable Rachel Maddow tells us why. Of course, this doesn’t mean there won’t be Fashbots stomping around, trying to intimidate minorities, since a lot of Trump supporters are even more right-wing than the GOP. It just means the GOP doesn’t want anything to do with them. What the courts will make of anything that does happen should make interesting reading either way. So, on to the daily outpourings of the Trump Train. Here’s the first one. It’s probably best read while listening to Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall.

What Drives Me?

Narcissism and greed.

Ivor,
The reason I am running for President is the same reason that you love America as much as I do.

Do you even English?

It’s the passion we feel for wanting …

Continue reading →

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The post Trump Spamfile 23 Oct 2016: The Wall by Jay H first appeared on Plague of Mice.