Who Has the Power at UC Berkeley?

Let’s take a closer look at how the LGBT community at Berkeley UC has been treating student senator Isabella Chow.

It all began “when the Queer Alliance Resource Center asked the student Senate to pass a bill condemning the Trump administration for considering a legal definition of gender that would require it to match a person’s sex at birth.”

It’s probably safe to assume that QARC is an student activist group.  The student activists wanted the student Senate to cast some symbolic vote in support of the activists’ ideology.  When the vote was taken, 18 (of 20) students voted to support the activists’ ideology and one student, Isabella Chow, abstained (the other called in sick).  Chow must have sensed (correctly so) that a mere abstention was going to make her a target of vindictive spite, so she prepared a short statement explaining her reasons.  The statement can be found in its entirety on her FB page:  https://www.facebook.com/isabellapchow

Her statement is polite, where she basically explains that because of her identity as a Christian, she could not, in good conscience, vote in favor of the senate bill.

Note the response from the LGBT community and its allies (as reported here). Don’t quickly pass over it; let each one sink in.

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Entrenched Christophobia at UC Berkeley

From here:

A student senator at UC Berkeley abstained from a vote supporting transgender rights last week, then took a moment to explain her thinking. Now, more than 1,000 people have signed a petition demanding that she resign from student government or face a recall.

Hundreds packed a Senate meeting Wednesday night to insist that she go. On social media, students labeled her a “horrible person” and a “mental imbecile.” Her campus political party severed ties with her. And the Daily Californian, UC Berkeley’s storied student newspaper, ran an editorial critical of her statements and refused to publish her written defense.

The uproar began Oct. 31, when the Queer Alliance Resource Center asked the student Senate to pass a bill condemning the Trump administration for considering a legal definition of gender that would require it to match a person’s sex at birth. The proposal would change the federal Title IX civil rights law and potentially remove its protections from 1.4 million trans-gender people, according to a New York Times story last month, based on a leaked memo. At UC Berkeley, the students’ resolution also urged the university to step up support of “trans-gender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students” and the campus groups that help them.

Isabella Chow, 20, abstained.

Reading a five-paragraph statement explaining her decision, Chow told her 18 fellow senators, who all voted for the bill (another was absent), that discrimination “is never, ever OK.” She condemned bullies and bigots. She said she abhorred stereotypes. And she called the LGBT community valid and loved.

“That said,” Chow continued, voting for the bill would compromise her values and force her to promote groups and identities she disagrees with.

“As a Christian, I personally do believe that certain acts and lifestyles conflict with what is good, right and true,” she said. “I believe that God created male and female at the beginning of time, and designed sex for marriage between one man and one woman. For me, to love another person does not mean that I silently concur when, at the bottom of my heart, I do not believe that your choices are right or the best for you as an individual.”

 

So Just When Do We Believe the Woman?

Social justice activist, David Gee, best known for his contributions to The Friendly Atheist blog, has posted allegations of rape against Neil deGrasse Tyson:

A woman says famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson drugged and raped her when they were both grad students in 1984, and you’re about to hear her tell the story in her own words.

Her name is Tchiya Amet, and she’s a musician who once studied Galactic Astronomy in the graduate program at University of Texas in Austin. Amet says Tyson slipped her a “Mickey,” a drug used to incapacitate victims of sexual assault, and caused her to drop out of school.

What is fascinating is that another social justice activist, PZ Myers,  doesn’t believe the woman:

You accuse one skeptic of rape, and next thing you know you’re the guy who’ll accuse anyone of rape. I get mentioned in this article about Tchiya Amet, the woman who is saying Neil Tyson raped her. She sounds credible. I can believe something happened. She definitely experienced some trauma around that time that led to her dropping out of grad school. She definitely believes she was the victim of a non-consensual sexual assault by Tyson. But…She sounds credible. I can believe something happened. She definitely experienced some trauma around that time that led to her dropping out of grad school. She definitely believes she was the victim of a non-consensual sexual assault by Tyson. But…

I expect a little bit of corroborating evidence. Unfortunately, there isn’t any. A friend who testifies to her distress at the time, signs of a pattern of abuse by Tyson to others, anything. There’s nothing. Apparently, a news organization (Buzzfeed, maybe?) tried to investigate, but hit a wall where there was a complete absence of any indications that he’d been a predatory dudebro back in the day. That was where I was stuck, too. I don’t have any investigatory ability, and all I had was this one person’s words.

Hold on.  Are we sure PZ is talking about Tchiya Amet?   After all, PZ Myers is using the exact arguments many of us cited for why we remained skeptical of Christine Blasey Ford’s accusation.

Queer Theory and Pedophilia

A few months ago we considered Derrick Jensen’s interview of feminist Susan Cox about Queer Theory and discovered the core problem with the social justice advocacy of transgender issues –  “It’s not good enough to be tolerant of transgender people nor is it good enough to refrain from mistreating them.  One must actively participate in the act of queering by agreeing the transgender women are really women.”

And if we are all socially obligated to participate in someone else’s metaphysics (in this case, extreme subjectivism), then I have one simple, unanswered question for those who are sympathetic to this social justice activism – where does it stop?  I know that you know what I know – you can’t answer it.

Let’s now consider more of Derrick Jensen’s interview with Susan Cox:

DJ: Let’s talk about pedophilia. It seems to me one of the arguments that’s made by queer theory; which you mentioned once, but you haven’t really hit, and you can hit it if you want; is the importance of transgressing social norms. And I think you and I would agree that there are certainly certain social norms that it is important to transgress. But it seems to me that queer theory, with denying that truth exists, is arguing that transgressing of social – that since some norms are… I’ve seen the argument made that because this culture has asserted that homosexuality is wrong, and that obviously is an unfair stricture, an unjust stricture, they then argue – I’ve seen a lot of queer theorists make this argument – that all restrictions against all forms of sexuality are restrictive and bad.

SC: Yeah…

DJ: So can you talk about that and include in this a discussion of the role of pedophilia in the formation of queer theory?

Transgender Tries to Oppress Women

More transgender activism:

Sixteen Canadian women have had human rights complaints filed against them by a male-to-female transgender individual for alleged “gender identity” discrimination after they refused to wax his male genitalia

So some guy who says he is a women and thus thinks he has the right to force women to wax his genitals?

John Carpay, a lawyer and the president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, is representing two of the women who are being targeted by the complainant, who is referred to only as “JY.” ……”In recent months, JY approached 16 Vancouver-area female estheticians who only serve women, requesting a ‘Brazilian’ bikini wax on his groin area,” revealed Carpay on Tuesday. “In spite of the fact that JY is able to obtain a Manzilian in Vancouver, JY has filed 16 complaints against these women at the BC Human Rights Tribunal, claiming discrimination on the basis of ‘gender identity.'”

According to the logic of transgender subjectivism, everyone is supposed to participate in the man’s belief that he is a woman.  And his “civil rights” are being denied if you refuse to play along.  This is oppression.

Shelah Poyer, one of the women Carpay is defending against JY pro bono, is a single mother who works out of her home.

According to the lawyer, JY said he was willing to withdraw his complaint against Poyer for $2,500. “If JY is demanding similar sums from the other 14 women, he stands to receive as much as $35,000 for dropping his human rights complaints,” noted Carpay.

Whoa!  Looks like the transgender has figured out how use social justice politics to formulate a new hustle.  And he’s targeting women who are likely to be easily intimidated – single moms working out of their home.

One Way to Deal with Social Justice Nazis

It is getting harder and harder to tell the difference between a social justice activist and a nazi:

Activists approached the Washington, D.C.-area residence of the star host.

Protesters targeted the Washington, D.C., home of Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night, ringing the door bell and chanting, “Racist scumbag, leave town!”

An anti-fascist group called Smash Racism DC announced the protest in a video posted late Wednesday: “BREAKING. Activists ring doorbell, hold protest at the Washington DC area home of @TuckerCarlson, racist, sexist, bigoted FOX News personality. So far no one has opened the door.”

“Tucker Carlson, we will fight!” the protesters chanted. “We know where you sleep at night!”

That the activists label themselves “anti-fascist” is just their Orwellian doublethink.  Don’t pay attention to their words and posturing; pay attention to their actions. And in this case, they are gathering at people’s houses in the middle of the night to scream threats.

If I were Carlson, I would purchase some monster sound system.  Put the speakers in some second floor windows.  And when the nazis show up the next time, turn up the volume and let em have it…..

More Words

Still clinging to the New Atheist glory days, blogger Richard Carrier will be speaking at some local skeptic’s group.  His talk, “The Science and Philosophy of Moral Reasoning,” is advertised as follows:

Unlike religious moral systems, atheist moral systems are evidence- and science-based, incorporate logic and reason informedly, and attend to the factual realities of human life and emotion.

Dr. Carrier will survey the most important things science and philosophy has discovered about what morality is, how moral reasoning works, and what it means to say one moral system is better than another, and thus moral progress factually real.

Carrier even tweeted about it:

Morals should not be based on the patriarchal, suppressive control doctrines of arbitrary religious authorities composed in primitive & medieval times by ignorant, superstitious men. But on evidence & reason, Hear more in Cincinnati this Tuesday night:

Wow, that sounds like something fellow atheist PZ Myers might buy into (hook, line, and sinker).

Speaking of PZ, what’s he thinking these days?

Atheists Rush to Defend Satanists

About a week ago, two girls, age 11 and 12, went to school with the intention of killing smaller children so they could drink their blood, eat their flesh, and then commit suicide to be with Satan.  Since this sounds like an urban legend, here’s the CNN story about it.

Of course, given the Friendly Atheist blog’s history of promoting satanism, it was time for some serious damage control. You find this on the FA blog:

It’s important to note that belief in Satan doesn’t line up with secular forms of “Satanism,” which emphasize rebellion, naturalism, and scientific inquiry.

Yep, when it comes to scientific inquiry, everyone naturally thinks…”Satanic Temple.”

 These girls may have claimed to worship Satan, but there is nothing yet that links them to any major proponent of “Satanism.” In fact, The Satanic Temple and the Church of Satan — two separate groups — have issued denunciations on Twitter.

Imagine that.  Both groups actually denounced attempted murder and cannibalism. Can the hurdle get any lower?

Let’s have some more fun with the atheists coming to the rescue of the satanists…

Atheist Religions

Here’s an article entitled, “Why millennials are ditching religion for witchcraft and astrology.”  It does link to a survey that shows “more than half of young adults in the U.S. believe astrology is a science,” but other than that, their evidence is anecdotal.  Nevetheless, I’d bet it’s pretty accurate.  That is, instead of all the “nones” embracing New Atheism, more and more are turning to various forms of the occult and New Age type beliefs as the “cool” thing.

Keep in mind that none other than Sam Harris (the youngest of the Four Horsemen) has long shied from the label “atheist” and instead has promoted spirituality, even to the point of teaching meditation.  And even the popular atheist blog, “Friendly Atheist,” seems to have a warm spot for such spirituality.  The blog has long promoted The Satanic Temple and its satanism.  It also seems to be warming up to the Wiccans.  In fact, most of the blog entries are not critical of “religion”; they are mostly Christian-bashing.  Wiccans, social justice atheists, and Satanists aligned against their “common enemy.”

What we’re probably witnessing is a transition stage.  The hardcore naturalistic atheism that blurs into scientism is largely favored by the old atheists who are soon to pass away.  Think of it as dinosaur atheism.  In contrast, more and more of this new and upcoming generation of atheists embrace The Satanic Temple and its rituals (which clearly blurs the distinction between secular and religious), is more likely to incorporate some elements of astrology into their life, and more likely to speak favorably of witchcraft and other forms of the occult.  Which leads to an interesting spot for atheism.  It’s become harder and harder for atheists to argue they are “against religion” since more and more atheists embrace a religion (Satanic Temple) or flirt with others.  In other words, while the New Atheists once argued all religions are bad, the New New Atheists will be arguing “your religion is bad.”   Good old fashioned sectarianism.  After all, that attitude is already intrinsic to The Satanic Temple.

Think of it this way.  We’ve been told countless times that the definition of athiesm is simply a lack of belief in gods.  Well, nothing in that defintion rules out believing in astrology or witchcraft.

Eye for an Eye

There is another excerpt from Elizabeth Finne’s article that I want to highlight:

Proportionality, meanwhile, is a criterion of fairness and justice applicable in all areas of the law, from self-defense and the use of military force, to the adjudication of constitutional and human rights, as well as the apportionment of punishment for a given crime. Like audi alteram partem, proportionality is so fundamental that its absence may be intuited even by small children. It has ancient roots in the concept of lex talionis, or the law of retaliation and can be found in the Code of Hammurabi. But perhaps its most famous formulation appears in the Hebrew Bible as “an eye for an eye.” Although this idea sounds barbaric to modern ears, the underlying point was that only an eye, and no more than an eye, must be forfeited for an eye taken. An upper limit is set which prevents society collapsing back into a limitless cycle of vengeance and vendetta.

I’m impressed.  Most people do think of an “eye for an eye” as a barbaric call for retribution.  But as Finne wisely notes,   “the underlying point was that only an eye, and no more than an eye, must be forfeited for an eye taken.”