All purpose news and politics thread part VII: News & Politics Total Landscaping

[babyblob]

What does everyone think of those protests going on on all these colleges?

[Username taken]

What does everyone think of those protests going on on all these colleges?

So far, they are peaceful and don't echo antisemitism, then I don't have any issues with them.

The problem is when the aforementioned antisemitism comes out (which has in some cases) and things get violent. That's a big no-no for me.

Students protesting unpopular US backed wars isn't really new, the challenge is all in the "presentation" of said protests.

[Gray Lensman]

What does everyone think of those protests going on on all these colleges?

The response to them has been heavy handed enough that it is magnifying the effect. And the people calling the protesters "left wing fascists looking to silence any dissent" seem to be pretty tone deaf. If there are triple digit arrests and little violence, I'd think the protesters were the ones being silenced rather than the ones being protested against.

[achilles]

The response to them has been heavy handed enough that it is magnifying the effect. And the people calling the protesters "left wing fascists looking to silence any dissent" seem to be pretty tone deaf. If there are triple digit arrests and little violence, I'd think the protesters were the ones being silenced rather than the ones being protested against.

Considering that the people involved with them seem to be pretty nasty pieces of work, like the guy at Columbia who keeps threatening to kill any Jews around him, or the girl at UCLA who refused to condemn the October 7th attacks, I think expulsion is the answer.

[Malvolio]

Stern interviewing Biden is apparently quite the softball interview. That's not terribly surprising.

https://twitter.com/KBAndersen/statu...81822633382369



(But it's important to note that Stern isn't a journalist. He's an entertainer first and foremost.)

Stern has become a very good interviewer since moving to satellite radio. Without the constraints of terrestrial radio, he has the freedom to do deep dive interviews.

[Tami]

The Onion Is Sold by G/O Media

G/O Media announced on Thursday that it had sold The Onion, a satirical news site, to a group of digital media veterans.

The Onion, which started in 1988 in Wisconsin as a weekly satirical newspaper and later became a website, is known for its parodies of current events. For the last decade, it has republished the same headline after nearly every mass shooting: “‘No Way to Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.”

n an email to G/O Media staff that was obtained by The New York Times, Jim Spanfeller, the chief executive, said the company was “undergoing an extensive review of our portfolio with the intention of coring down to our leading sites in terms of audience and revenues.” He said G/O Media had agreed to sell to “a new Chicago-based firm called Global Tetrahedron.”

“This company is made up of four digital media veterans with a profound love for The Onion and comedy-based content,” Mr. Spanfeller wrote. “The site’s new owners have agreed to keep The Onion’s entire staff intact and in Chicago, something we insisted be part of the deal.”

The name Global Tetrahedron is, in true Onion fashion, a winking reference to a sinister fictional company featured in the book “Our Dumb Century,” which was written by The Onion’s staff and published in 1999.

The real-life Global Tetrahedron is owned by Jeff Lawson, a co-founder and former chief executive of the technology communications company Twilio. The chief executive is Ben Collins, who was a senior reporter at NBC News until recently. Leila Brillson, a former TikTok executive, and Danielle Strle, previously at Tumblr, round out the executive team.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

What does everyone think of those protests going on on all these colleges?

I have no problem with protests as long as they stay peaceful. Protesters set up shop here in Philly at Temple and UPenn yesterday.

[ed2962]

The response to them has been heavy handed enough that it is magnifying the effect. And the people calling the protesters "left wing fascists looking to silence any dissent" seem to be pretty tone deaf. If there are triple digit arrests and little violence, I'd think the protesters were the ones being silenced rather than the ones being protested against.

I saw Mike Johnson in a couple of different clips trying to claim just exactly that...that the protesters were trying to shut down discussion, when in fact him calling for them to be removed is what's shutting down discussion. I also thought it was pretty ironic Johnson calling for the head of Columbia to resign considering what he just went through himself over the last few weeks.

[ed2962]

So far, they are peaceful and don't echo antisemitism, then I don't have any issues with them.

The problem is when the aforementioned antisemitism comes out (which has in some cases) and things get violent. That's a big no-no for me.

Students protesting unpopular US backed wars isn't really new, the challenge is all in the "presentation" of said protests.

What's interesting is that a number of the protesters are Jewish themselves, but that fact is either downplayed or sometimes completely ignored by some of the media and or pundits/commentators. But yeah...I worry that a few of the protesters are coming close to giving the fear mongers and grifters what they want. I think some of them want it to turn into Chicago '68/Kent State. Fox News ( and others ) will have a field day...

[Godzilla2099]

What does everyone think of those protests going on on all these colleges?

I'd be peeved if I was a student or staff at one of those Universities. College alone was stressful enough:

- The Protests caused classes to move online and disrupted graduation plans
- I can't grasp why women would join these protests. Do they not realize what the Hamas would do to them if they set foot on their turf?
- I would expel students such as Khymani James (Who said "Zionists don’t deserve to live”) immediately. There are so many other students working hard to get in those universities. Why not make room for students who appreciate the chance?

[Tami]

I'd be peeved if I was a student or staff at one of those Universities. College alone was stressful enough:

- The Protests caused classes to move online and disrupted graduation plans
- I can't grasp why women would join these protests. Do they not realize what the Hamas would do to them if they set foot on their turf?
- I would expel students such as Khymani James (Who said "Zionists don’t deserve to live”) immediately. There are so many other students working hard to get in those universities. Why not make room for students who appreciate the chance?

I wouldn't, and I was once staff at a University. Sure it causes disruptions, but if it is peaceful and well intentioned then it is part and parcel of the college experience.

[shooshoomanjoe]

I'd be peeved if I was a student or staff at one of those Universities. College alone was stressful enough:

- The Protests caused classes to move online and disrupted graduation plans
- I can't grasp why women would join these protests. Do they not realize what the Hamas would do to them if they set foot on their turf?
- I would expel students such as Khymani James (Who said "Zionists don’t deserve to live”) immediately. There are so many other students working hard to get in those universities. Why not make room for students who appreciate the chance?

The problem with the far right is that they refuse to differentiate between Palestinian citizens and Hamas.

[zinderel]

- I can't grasp why women would join these protests. Do they not realize what the Hamas would do to them if they set foot on their turf?

It’s ENTIRELY possible that these women are not protesting in favor of Hamas, believe it or not!!

God, that talking point - “If you’re not with us, you’re with Hamas!!!” - is the laziest, most aggravating bit of propaganda in this entire thing! Y’know, aside from the whole, “If you think Palestinian genocide is a bad thing, and Israel should stop committing genocide, then you’re an anti-Semite who hates Jews as much as Hitler did!” thing…

The VAST majority of protests against Israel are NOT in favor of Hamas. Nor are the majority in favor of Israel being destroyed. Anti-zionism is no more anti-Semitism than anti-white supremacy is anti-American.

So what are the protests FOR, if not the rise of Hamas and the destruction of Israel? Well, people are angry. They’re angry that a supposedly ‘holy’ land that should know better than to try to justify or excuse genocide is committing genocide in front of the entire world and calling everyone who disagrees with it ‘anti-Semite’, or ‘pro-Hamas’. So people are protesting against Israel’s ongoing, slow-motion eradication of a persecuted people (whose leadership use shitty terrorist tactics to make their points - because anger at the oppressor and terrorist tactics are all they have left). The people protesting are, by and large, there to protest AGAINST the wholesale slaughter of…what is it now? 32,000 Palestinians? Including pregnant women? And children?

But sure. They don’t ACTUALLY want the killing to stop, despite their words. They ACTUALLY just hate the Jews and want Hamas to destroy Israel, right?

Because ‘murdering 32,000 Palestinians (and injuring 72,000 more…which is totally fine since every one of them was Hamas, especially the pregnant women and children, right? No reason to protest, there…) and counting’ is fair play when your god tells you they don’t deserve to live, and anyone trying to characterize that as genocide is an anti-Semite, right?

[Zelena]

It’s ENTIRELY possible that these women are not protesting in favor of Hamas, believe it or not!!

God, that talking point - “If you’re not with us, you’re with Hamas!!!” - is the laziest, most aggravating bit of propaganda in this entire thing! Y’know, aside from the whole, “If you think Palestinian genocide is a bad thing, and Israel should stop committing genocide, then you’re an anti-Semite who hates Jews as much as Hitler did!” thing…

The VAST majority of protests against Israel are NOT in favor of Hamas. Nor are the majority in favor of Israel being destroyed. Anti-zionism is no more anti-Semitism than anti-white supremacy is anti-American.[…]

A criticism I heard is that the people who were protesting against the destructions in Gaza haven’t been protesting against the strikes of 7th october in Israel, the strikes in Syria (and there’s another one I don’t remember)…

People are subjective in their indignation but this subjectivity doesn’t negate the fact that the sufferings of the Palestinians are real and it’s human to want that they cease…

[achilles]

The problem with the far right is that they refuse to differentiate between Palestinian citizens and Hamas.

That gets hard when polls taken in Gaza have shown consistent support for Hamas to the tune of about 70% to 75%. And when they celebrate after October 7th, and help hold the hostages, as has been attested to by some of the freed ones.