• Pelosi belatedly figures out going to China is dangerous

    From Gary McGath@21:1/5 to All on Mon Feb 7 12:08:34 2022
    Nancy Pelosi has warned athletes at the China Olympics, "Do not risk
    incurring the anger of the Chinese government." Shut up and don't criticize.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF9rlHgqkE0

    Nice that she finally figured out how dangerous China's government is to visitors, _after_ the Olympic athletes are there.

    Fandom is so far proving just as slow. The vague hints that anyone who advocates boycotting Chengdu will be smeared as "racist" is proving
    enough to shut most people up.

    --
    Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

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  • From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to Gary McGath on Mon Feb 7 23:23:49 2022
    Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
    Fandom is so far proving just as slow. The vague hints that anyone
    who advocates boycotting Chengdu will be smeared as "racist" is
    proving enough to shut most people up.

    Who in fandom has made those vague hints? I haven't seen or heard any.

    Here's someone not in fandom who is doing more than hinting, in
    response to Olympic-style posters posted at GWU critical of the
    Chinese government:

    Please know that I am personally offended by the posters.
    ... we are working to have all of these offensive posters removed
    as soon as possible.

    I too am saddened by this terrible event and we will undertake an
    effort to determine who is responsible.

    Sincerely,
    Mark S. Wrighton, Ph.D.
    President
    The George Washington University

    Unsurprisingly, the artist turned out to be Chinese.

    https://blog.simplejustice.us/2022/02/07/gwu-and-the-china-syndrome/
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

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  • From Kevrob@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Tue Feb 8 00:21:23 2022
    On Monday, February 7, 2022 at 6:23:51 PM UTC-5, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
    Fandom is so far proving just as slow. The vague hints that anyone
    who advocates boycotting Chengdu will be smeared as "racist" is
    proving enough to shut most people up.
    Who in fandom has made those vague hints? I haven't seen or heard any.

    Here's someone not in fandom who is doing more than hinting, in
    response to Olympic-style posters posted at GWU critical of the
    Chinese government:

    Please know that I am personally offended by the posters.
    ... we are working to have all of these offensive posters removed
    as soon as possible.

    I too am saddened by this terrible event and we will undertake an
    effort to determine who is responsible.

    Sincerely,
    Mark S. Wrighton, Ph.D.
    President
    The George Washington University

    Unsurprisingly, the artist turned out to be Chinese.

    https://blog.simplejustice.us/2022/02/07/gwu-and-the-china-syndrome/
    --

    Wrighton has backpedaled. Perhaps he remembered GWU is a creature of the Commonwealth and, unlike a private University, must follow the 1st Amendment?

    See:

    https://www.thefire.org/message-from-george-washington-university-president-mark-wrighton-february-7-2022/

    [quote]

    I have since learned from our university’s scholars that the posters were designed by a Chinese-Australian
    artist, Badiucao, and they are a critique of China’s policies. Upon full understanding, I do not view these
    posters as racist; they are political statements. There is no university investigation underway, and the
    university will not take any action against the students who displayed the posters.

    [/quote] - https://president.gwu.edu/message-regarding-posters-displayed-campus

    When I was at my private University, no posters were allowed to be posted without
    prior approval of the "Office of Student Life." I had to go through the bureaucratic
    paces in order to publicize the appearance on campus of the 1984 Libertarian Presidential candidate. (David Bergland) I was responsible for taking the posters
    down after the event, and OSL knew where I lived. I received nothing but co-operation
    from University staff, though their political support probably was otherwise pledged.

    --
    Kevin R

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  • From Gary McGath@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Tue Feb 8 03:59:34 2022
    On 2/7/22 6:23 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
    Fandom is so far proving just as slow. The vague hints that anyone
    who advocates boycotting Chengdu will be smeared as "racist" is
    proving enough to shut most people up.

    Who in fandom has made those vague hints? I haven't seen or heard any.

    Item 1, by Paul Weimer:

    https://www.patreon.com/posts/60266480

    'Other areas of the SFF internet have just gone full bore Red Scare
    racist, implying or saying that the CCP (Communist Party of China) has “bought” a Worldcon. That in and of itself is nonsense. There are a LOT
    of Chinese SF fans and this year, they mobilized.'

    To cover all his bases, he tells us simultaneously that the objection to Chinese SF fans who have no postal address is their racial makeup and
    the international, mostly European Communist movement.

    Item 2, a comment by Suzanne Palmer (a recent Hugo winner) on my own
    blog post:

    https://garymcgath.com/wp/silence-chengdu-worldcon/

    "I personally heard, or was directly told, many racist things and wacky conspiracies about the Chengdu bid at Worldcon, and I think this post is missing a lot of critical nuance and kinda falling on the wrong side of
    things in a really unfortunate way. Ping me if you want to discuss."

    I asked her, in a reply to her comment, to elaborate. So far there's
    been no response.

    There was another article on a fannish website, which I've lost track
    of, that talked about the Jeddah and Worldcon bids and strongly implied
    that it was racist to say that China was dangerous to visiting
    foreigners. I suppose the author of that article now thinks Pelosi is
    racist.



    --
    Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Kevrob@21:1/5 to Kevrob on Tue Feb 8 00:47:05 2022
    On Tuesday, February 8, 2022 at 3:21:24 AM UTC-5, Kevrob wrote:
    On Monday, February 7, 2022 at 6:23:51 PM UTC-5, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
    Fandom is so far proving just as slow. The vague hints that anyone
    who advocates boycotting Chengdu will be smeared as "racist" is
    proving enough to shut most people up.
    Who in fandom has made those vague hints? I haven't seen or heard any.

    Here's someone not in fandom who is doing more than hinting, in
    response to Olympic-style posters posted at GWU critical of the
    Chinese government:

    Please know that I am personally offended by the posters.
    ... we are working to have all of these offensive posters removed
    as soon as possible.

    I too am saddened by this terrible event and we will undertake an
    effort to determine who is responsible.

    Sincerely,
    Mark S. Wrighton, Ph.D.
    President
    The George Washington University

    Unsurprisingly, the artist turned out to be Chinese.

    https://blog.simplejustice.us/2022/02/07/gwu-and-the-china-syndrome/
    --
    Wrighton has backpedaled. Perhaps he remembered GWU is a creature of the Commonwealth and, unlike a private University, must follow the 1st Amendment?

    See:

    https://www.thefire.org/message-from-george-washington-university-president-mark-wrighton-february-7-2022/


    Correction: GWU is in DC, and private, with a Science & Tech campus in Virginia.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_University

    I think I confused it with George Mason. Mea culpa.
    (No, that's Georgetown....)

    [quote]

    I have since learned from our university’s scholars that the posters were designed by a Chinese-Australian
    artist, Badiucao, and they are a critique of China’s policies. Upon full understanding, I do not view these
    posters as racist; they are political statements. There is no university investigation underway, and the
    university will not take any action against the students who displayed the posters.

    [/quote] - https://president.gwu.edu/message-regarding-posters-displayed-campus

    When I was at my private University, no posters were allowed to be posted without
    prior approval of the "Office of Student Life." I had to go through the bureaucratic
    paces in order to publicize the appearance on campus of the 1984 Libertarian Presidential candidate. (David Bergland) I was responsible for taking the posters
    down after the event, and OSL knew where I lived. I received nothing but co-operation
    from University staff, though their political support probably was otherwise pledged.

    --

    University authorities might have been able to keep their mouths shut about the content of the posters and just removed them as unauthorized decoration
    of University property, unless other political protest posters have previously been allowed to stay up. Missing out on a "virtue-signalling" opportunity was probably too hard to resist.


    https://reason.com/volokh/2022/02/07/a-free-speech-win-at-george-washington-university/

    --
    Kevin R

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  • From Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha@21:1/5 to Kevrob on Tue Feb 8 08:09:47 2022
    Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> wrote in news:5d180fc0-a032-4e84-86cd-dfa09c49da42n@googlegroups.com:


    https://www.thefire.org/message-from-george-washington-university -president-mark-wrighton-february-7-2022/

    [quote]

    I have since learned from our university’s scholars that the
    posters were designed by a Chinese-Australian artist,

    Had it turned out the student looked caucasian instead of said, I
    suspect he'd have doubled down instead of backpedalling.

    --
    Terry Austin

    Proof that Alan Baker is a liar and a fool, and even stupider than
    Lynn:
    https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration
    (May 2019 total for people arrested for entering the United States
    illegally is over 132,000 for just the southwest border.)

    Vacation photos from Iceland:
    https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

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  • From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to Kevrob on Thu Feb 10 04:07:50 2022
    Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> wrote:
    Wrighton has backpedaled. ...

    https://www.thefire.org/message-from-george-washington-university-president-mark-wrighton-february-7-2022/

    I love thefire.org.

    They recently defended an old high school friend of mine, whose university- requested "land ackowledgement" was denounced by the university as "inappropriate," "offensive," and "toxic."

    https://www.thefire.org/university-of-washington-professor-created-toxic-environment-by-deviating-from-university-approved-language-about-native-american-land/
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

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