Posts by Dennis Frank
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The coalition deserves a rating of ten out of ten! The G-G signed an order-in-council at 3pm, banning semi-automatic guns & conversion accessories. Legislation will follow early next month. Our top cop then announced the procedure gun-owners must now implement to become law-abiding.
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Hard News: These things we must now change, in reply to Emma Hart,
I empathise totally - would've done the same in your shoes. Spent my whole life conscience-driven, adopting moral stands contrary to social convention, usually as a minority of one. That why I nowadays have to criticise leftists who use hate speech while criticising rightists who do the same...
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Hard News: These things we must now change, in reply to Alfie,
Good point - I was assuming they are both part of the same group but ain't necessarily so. Paul Buchanan originally referred to a cell of ten as the standard modus operandi, and the media were theorising a connection with the Chch white supremacists, but no evidence has emerged since to substantiate that eh?
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Hard News: These things we must now change, in reply to Alfie,
Gosh, how arcane. Using 14 to symbolise a statement of principle is interesting, and attaching the historical code is kinda like tipping one's hat to the prophet.
It does seem racist, but proponents would argue there's nothing wrong with valuing a future for your (ethnic) children, and prioritising security action on that basis.
I can't see a court defining it as hate speech. Perhaps he used some in his manifesto, or on his guns, but everyone has been very careful so far to refrain from identifying any such evidence. Since public policy is nowadays meant to be evidence-based, everyone seems to be parking the implications for now...
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Hard News: These things we must now change, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Nazis are still a thing, then. "14.88 is a hate symbol popular with white extremists", but no explanation why. Devil is probably in the details...
"The company's website www.BIIG.co.nz, is an acronym for the company's full name Beneficial Insulation Installs Guaranteed. BIIg was the name of a barracks at Auschwitz concentration camp". Biig on symbolism.
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Hard News: These things we must now change, in reply to Sacha,
That's an excellent design. I agree it sketches mass psychology well. Not all of it of course, but it has to be selective to fulfill the agenda of the designer.
I think it captures a considerable portion of centrists: many of those who prefer to be apolitical, who lack a moral compass, or principles.
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Hard News: These things we must now change, in reply to Alfie,
Also a link there to this similar prosecution: https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/111334495/christchurch-man-arrested-for-enticing-racial-or-ethnic-hate
If these and any similar copycat prosecutions succeed, that will establish case-law precedent - based on the actual evidence specified. That will provide a basis for describing hate speech accurately.
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Hard News: These things we must now change, in reply to Farmer Green,
Well okay, but I don't see the point of having a law if everyone ignores it. Surely parliament passed the damn thing so it would be used? Or was it intended as an exercise in moral grand-standing? I agree the pc-brigade would likely be satisfied with a sham, but laws are meant to be for everyone.
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Hard News: These things we must now change, in reply to Sacha,
Spending time discussing the merit of particular examples of hate speech is only worthwhile if the intent is to reach consensus. That requires reciprocity.
My point is that the current law has marginal relevance due to lack of implementation. Whining and moaning about hate speech on political blogs almost always fails to include specific examples. I believe that is why the whiners & moaners always fail to proceed with prosecutions.
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Hard News: These things we must now change, in reply to flabra,
Acceptable proof of a causal relation is established by example. I suspect the reason our hate speech law has not yet been tested in court is because nobody has yet discovered an example suitable for prosecution.
In that respect my opinion is typical of everyone else’s. I await a valid example. None of the hate speech accusations that one routinely encounters on political blogs has yet sufficed to meet the legal standard.
I do agree that we ought not to dismiss the relation between speech and behaviour, and I accept the principle that the hate-speech law was based on: harm minimisation. Inciting folks to violence produces a toxic culture, enhancing the likelihood that someone may act on the basis of the speech. Yet leftist blogs contribute to the toxicity due to commentators using hate speech – albeit not to the same extent as rightist blogs.
I also agree that symbolism is extremely influential. Hitler & Goebbels deployed it effectively. Our PM, for instance, seems currently to be functioning extremely well as a symbol of hope and I bet that is having a big effect on our younger generations.
In the USA, the gun functions as a symbol of freedom. I’ve always seen it as a symbol of violence (I became non-violent in 1964). Breivik & Tarrant both promoted themselves as symbols of resistance: they used that symbolism as a means of empowering their ideology. Leading by example, in the hope of replication. Which points to the relevance of mimetic theory, and the role of complex memes in the formation of belief systems via viral contagion. I recommend Mind Wars (McFadyen, 2000) to any reader with a propensity for gnosis around the deeper dimensions of human nature.