The fastly approaching fifth anniversary of one of Britain's most noble institutions

The heroic, important, yet little-known organization of The Council of Ex-Muslims in Britain celebrates its fifth birthday this weekend. Those who have been lucky enough to get their hands on tickets for the anniversary party have a vast array of events to look forward to. In the space of one afternoon, they will be able to hear philospher A.C  Grayling, author of the seminal 'The Meaning of Things', lecturing, attend a talk by physicist Lawrence Krauss, and witness a whole whost of other people from singer/songwriter Shelley Segal to magician Neil Edwards to comedian Kate Smurthwaite make their own contributions to this important occasion. The driving force behind it all: a woman named Maryam Namazie. Born in Tehran, Maryam was forced to flee with her family when the 1979 Iranian revolution occured. After a time working in Sudan, where she established an undeground human rights network before her cover was blown, she came to Britain, where she has since been tirelessly campaigning against the clerical form of facism that is Sharia Law, the treatment of women in Islamic societies, political Islam, and for the rights of so-called 'apostates' who change their religion or choose to renounce it, as well as for one, secular law for all, that does not patronizingly endorse lower expectations for different groups in society, and promote tolerance and respect for so-called minority opinions and beliefs, rather than respect for human beings. 'Human beings are worthy of the highest respect, but not all opinions and beliefs are worthy of respect and tolerance. There are some who believe in fascism, white supremacy, the inferiority of women. Must they be respected?' Maryam argues. When politicians in Ottawa decided to allow Sharia to run parallel to the Canadian state justice system, claiming that if they were not established, the Muslim minority would be marginalised, Namazie responded. with fury. Why was it, she asked, that people on supposedly on the left were so keen to give 'precedence to cultural and religious norms, however reactionary, over the human being and her rights?' Why was it that they always pretended as if immigrants belonged to homogeneous blocks, and gave voice to 'the most reactionary segements' of immigrant communities, ignoring the fact that, simply because it was the culture of a few radical religous fanatics to say that it is acceptable for a woman to be beaten by her husband, and that gay people should be killed, it was certainly not the culture of the majority of people within those communities, of which women and homosexuals made up 53%. As the Observer's Nick Cohen argues:

Namazie is on the right side of the great intellectual struggle of our time between incompatible versions of liberalism. One follows the fine and necessary principle of tolerance, but ends up having to tolerate the oppression of women, say, or gays in foreign cultures while opposing misogyny and homophobia in its own. (Or 'liberalism for the liberals and cannibalism for the cannibals!' as philosopher Martin Hollis elegantly described the hypocrisy of the manoeuvre.) The alternative is to support universal human rights and believe that if the oppression of women is wrong, it is wrong everywhere.

It was pointed out by Richard J Evans, professor of modern history at Cambridge, that if you take the relativist position to its conclusion and believe there's no such thing as truth and all cultures are equally valid, you have no weapons to fight the Holocaust denier or Ku Klux Klansmen. He's right. Many slave traders would have been offended by the idea that a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work, was wrong. Many men would have been offended by the idea that women should have a right so basic as the right to be treated as an equal human being, or the right to vote. Should the abolitionists and the suffragettes therefore have kept silent, for fear of being 'disrespectful' or 'offending' other people's 'equally valid points of view'? Of course they should not have. If they had, we would still be living in a moral and political dark age. In Britain in the 21st century, there is a culture of fear. We are afraid of voicing critiques of religion, for fear of offending the views of minorities. After witnessing what happened to Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Salman Rushdie when they refused to keep quiet, our comedians shy away from satirizing Islam, and people are afraid to even draw cartoons or write novels, for fear of the consequences. This has got to stop, because if it does not, we will not be able to bring the help that liberal Muslims, gays, feminists, progressives and trade unionists so desparately need. This is why we need organizations like 'Council for Ex-Muslims in Britain'. Britons across the land, all of them former Muslims, many of whom live in fear and recieve death threats from Islamists simply for renouncing their faith, have organized into a group, and are constantly campaiging and acting, and they will not be silenced. As Nick Cohen argues, they represent 'the gulf between liberal apologists and those who really want equality...the gulf between the two is unbridgeable'. The Council for Ex-Muslims, and organizations like it, need our help, because the only society worth living in is one where we can give or take offence. Religion is just an idea, like any other idea, espoused by someone who claims to have recieved a message from God. 'It is not surrounded by an electric wire fence called "respect", that none of us can cross' argues journalist Johann Hari. Do you support the rights of people to not be offended? Or do you support a free society devoid of censorship, with equality for women, for gays, for athiests and for free thinkers? You cannot, quite simply, support both.

An introduction

As per request, I shall be devoting this post to an explanation of who I am and what my contribution to this blog will consist of. I am a highly-opinionated fourteen year old finally fulfilling his life-long ambition to be a blogger. As you will discover soon enough when I begin to use this space as a means of espousing them, I possess a veritable plethora of views, and on any issue political, economic, social or cultural, rest assured I will have an opinion on it of some sort. Some of you, I am sure, will be wanting to know where I place myself on the political spectrum. There is no easy answer to this question. I have never labelled myself, nor do I consider it helpful to do so; 'leftist', 'conservative', 'libertarian' and the like are all fairly lazy terms, and anyway, I dislike the idea of my self-styled contrarianism being reduced to pure liberalism or pure conservatism. Although I believe one should always be wary of making statements or defending opinions purely for the sake of being controversial, I like to think of myself as someone who enjoys holding positions which run contrary to those of the so-called 'consensus' or the so-called 'majority', no matter how many enemies it makes him. I think the sentiment expressed by the motto of the Royal Society: 'nullius in verba' (take no man's word for it), is appropriate here. I also like to quote the journalist Christopher Hitchens, of whom I have always been a great admirer, who said:
My own opinion is enough for me, and I claim my right to have it defended against any majority, any consensus, anywhere, anyplace, anytime. Anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, wait in line and kiss my ass.

Above all, I want to use The Opinionated Internet to fuel debate and discussion, and get people talking about the issues that matter. What follows are just some of the topics that might crop up now and again within my blog posts: Republicanism, drug legalization, LGBT equality, feminism, grassroots democracy, interventionism, free trade, economic liberalism, the conflict between religion and freedom of thought, multiculturalism, the history of science and the philosophy of race. I may also be posting the odd review, and sometimes will provide links to articles and videos which I have enjoyed or found interesting enough to want to share with others.

Here is some of what I love: arguments, debating, public speaking, long walks in the English countryside, tea, the films of Michael Haneke, Abbas Kiarostami and Joel and Ethan Coen, the writings of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Evelyn Waugh, P.G Wodehouse, Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, the life and work of Christopher Hitchens, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Douglas Murray, Nick Cohen, Maryam Namazie, Richard Dawkins, Salman Rushdie and Peter Tatchell, modern art, brutalism, minimalism and the art and culture of London.

Here is some of what I try to fight against: deception of the public, denial, censorship, theocratic encroachment on a free society, religious fundamentalism, misuse of belief, bigotry of all stripes, narrow mindedness, human rights abuses, totalitarianism, excuse-making and extremism.

I am hugely excited to now be a part of the Opinionated Internet blog. If you have any suggestions, criticisms, queries or complaints, do not hesitate to get in touch. I would love to hear from you.

MS

From White Racism to Anti-White Racism- Part 1: Clarification

IMPORTANT: Before continuing, it is important to know that when I say that a certain race shows more dangerous racism, I do not want to generalize- I only mean that more members of a certain race are racist, but the vast majority of that race will still be peaceable people. I happen to have friends from all of the said races.

Greetings.

This is a criticism of one of the worst predicaments of the 21st century. I am talking of racism- how this civilization sees it, how they think to prevent it, and how they promote it. I will deal with this in four stages, spread across two posts:

• In This Post:
• I shall clarify the definition of racism.
• Secondly, I shall demonstrate the various instances of racism in our society- and evaluate which racism is more potent/ dangerous.
• In the Next Post:
• I shall outline the present response to racism
• I shall evaluate how reasonable the response can be termed, and establish the phrase 'Anti-racism'.
• Finally (and this may take up an entire post) I shall state the reasons for this anti-racism.

If you abide with me without blindly shutting out arguments or failing to comment your [dis]agreements, I hope to change the way you think about racism.

So, what is racism? This, I feel, needs clearing up, as I have heard many garbled definitions. Indeed, many in our community (you included?) are in the sad delusion that racism is 'a white guy not being cool to a black guy'. Most dictionaries will give the definition:

racism or racialism  (ˈreɪsɪzəm, ˈreɪʃəˌlɪzəm)
— n
1. the belief that races have distinctive cultural characteristics determined by hereditary factors and that this endows some races with an intrinsic superiority over others
2. abusive or aggressive behaviour towards members of another race on the basis of such a belief.

Someone who is of a different race does not necessarily have different traits; people seem to think that aggressiveness towards foreigners is somehow more acceptable than aggressiveness towards a different colour of skin, yet I cannot think how the word 'frog' used towards a French person is anything other than racial discrimination to the same extent as 'nigger'. Thus, for this essay I shall redefine the term 'race' as a different culture.


The following will be classified as racist attitudes:

• judging someone based on their homeland/race, using stereotypes e.g. He is Jewish-he is not to be trusted with money.
• Alienating someone and excluding him/her on account of their racial traits.
• Physical abuse towards a member of another race.

So far, so good... moving on;


Races in Our Society (a brief list):

• White
• (Jewish)
• Indian (Pakistani included)
• Arab
• Black
• Asian (Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Cambodian Peninsula)
• (Native Americans? not mentioned here, but important in America.)
• Different religions- play an important role in racism.

Various racisms present in our society: 

A Brief List


(Do note that 'our society' means Britain, with references to France.)

To record every single type of racism would be impossible, so here you will only find the most active/relevant in our society. White figures in most/all of these, since our civilization is white.

• White hatred of Black- not uncommon, but heavily sanctioned, because of its long history and politicisation. physical demonstrations are now very rare, and this racism is more prominent in the form of snide remarks in certain classroom (i.e immature) environments, as well as excluding Black immigrants in certain rural areas, notably Lancashire and Alsace. Since this is the most drastically frowned-upon racism the offender rarely goes unpunished. Although in Britain this racism is almost dead, we are told that the southern states of the USA still harbour it, while it is physically active in South Africa.

• Black hatred of White- Far more common than opposite; physical demonstrations are often reported in France and Britain (usually slums of big cities; 16 th Parisian district and Whitechapel, London are known to be susceptible). USA also has major problems. These physical demonstrations come in the form of roving bands, especially on big occasions such as New Year's Eve when police are occupied. These roving bands are usually associated with criminal activities and not racism, but occasionally, witnesses hear vague insults aimed at whites. These links show of these many incidents. In some areas, one sees a very definite correlation between the White-hatred-of Black and the Black-hatred-of-White; this particularly occurs in areas like Scandinavia, where the culture is a very traditional/religious one, and where immigration is less controlled. The immigrants here apparently attempt to impose their own culture, inciting the ire of the inhabitants. It would appear that Black-hatred-of-White passes with comparative impunity, as we commonly hear phrases such as 'All Whites are racist' and there is even a religion, Rastafarianism, which accuses the White race of just about every sin conceivable, while glorifying the Black race. Similar ideas can be found in some Islamic branches- but more on that later.

• White hatred of Arab- Very common in France, where most of the immigration is Arabic, and Arabs are seen as stealing jobs. Another, far more common example of this racism in France is the stereotyped Arab- a hardened hoodlum and thief; this is not altogether unfounded (indeed many and most immigrants now conform to this stereotype quite happily), but it does make life a lot harder for those immigrants who choose to live honestly. In Britain, this type of racism is virtually unheard of, because of Britain's lack of communication with the Arabic counties. It is also needless to say that an Arab is the embodiment of Islam, and so incites much suspicion (especially from rural areas, where strangers are always shunned, even if they come from the nearest town).

• Arab hatred of White- This is, quite frankly, the type of racism that incites its opposite. A lot of modern Rapping (that is to say, street music) bears racist slander, and both Black and Arab races monopolise the violent aggression contained therein. I shall include but a smattering of these, both from Britain and translated from France:

Swing by on the pale guy. . . . break him in the neck. . . . the guerrilla with the poison tip. . . . shaking pinky up on a dull-ass ice-pick . . . this is Lench Mob. . . . devil, what you want to do; when you see the boot, knew your head is hoohoo...

That’s what I wanna be 
All over the white world 
Yes they’ll remember me 
Don’t look at me as an innocent bystander 
Because I’ll scare you after dark ... 

As We Move across to France, it gets a lot harsher...

And if my hatred decreases

It's cause the Whites are all dead...

"Bang! In your teeth / I'm talking to you white boy / I f**k your government / Tell me / 'Why so much hate?" / With dirty breath...

Go ahead, release the pitts, break the windows,
Don't care, it's the cops there anyway,This is U.N.I.T.Y., nigga, rebeu, babtou, Tway   [nicknames for various races in France]
But if we want to control Paris, you know it will be all together 

Here it is the pitts are dropped,
cities are crap, the windows are broken,
The cops are lynched, well, it relieves,
Paris must [some very rude word for burning, with no equivalent in English]
Tonight Le Pen to death, We restart the guillotine, worst than in Djibouti...

Well, I think that more or less proves my point concerning rap. In France (and England to a lesser extent) the immigrants are mostly nationalistic/ psycho-religious and from underdeveloped countries and backgrounds; although not all branches of Islam sport psycho-religious tendencies, the ones most common in France are solely based on brainwashing and blind hatred. Thus it is understandable that Arabic immigrants are seen suspiciously in France, considering the fact that the immigrants are often inherently anti-white, and- in the case of the youths- the epitome of anarchy, violence and lack of self-control.

• White hatred of Asian- Not a threat at all, either in Britain or France. Asians are usually well-integrated, and the only complaints heard about them is the fact that they are stealing jobs, or maths awards. Anti-Asian remarks can of course be heard in immature environments, but this is by no means serious.
• Asian hatred of White- Similarly, no threat at all. Asian immigrants are the most integrated, and the only racism heard from them is internal (i.e Japanese vs Chinese).

• White hatred of Indian- Here it is crucial to separate the Indians (who are just as integrated as the Asians) from the Pakistani, who, in Britain, are almost the equivalent of the Arabs in France. Thus we constantly have complaints of 'Pakis' stealing all the jobs, and throwing a slow monopoly over everything- for instance, one taxi-driver complained that the East-end accent had changed from Cockney to Pakistani. There is little or no anti-Pakistani violence recorded.
• Indian hatred of White- Again, no problem posed by the Indians. The Pakistani, however, compose the main roving bands in the slums of London; certainly. these are far more controlled and minor than in France, but doubts are cast as to whether this would be continuous after a year or so of socialist rule. Otherwise, the verbal abuse directed by Pakistani at whites is enough to contend with the rap I have published above.

So what conclusions can be pulled from this? It would appear that, although the White race has the longest history and the biggest reputation for racism, White racism is no longer an issue (little or no violence recorded in the past 50 years) in MEDCs- with a few exceptions, which are being pressurized into non existence- for example, the mass murderer Andres Breivik's case is being taken so seriously by the Norwegian government that they have built a new court, just for his court-case (which is doomed for him anyway).
While White racism is in a terminal state, anti-white racism is radically increasing with the number of immigrants. It would seem (and I am not trying to insult anyone but merely making a factual observation) that most violent racism comes from Muslim countries. This may simply come from their underdevelopment (but that excuse is pretty short-lived when one looks at India- still an LEDC, but remarkably behaved- or the sudden advance of Arabia in terms of economy). Or perhaps, for some reason, the psychotic Muslims are the ones who choose to immigrate? Unlikely, but possible...
Whatever the case, we can now set up this chain of dangerous racism:

1. Arab     )
2. Pakistani)all three types of racism are quite close
3. Black    ) 
4. White (far behind, though only recently achieved this)
5. Asian & Indian

For a lengthy analysis of our society's response towards racism, please read my next post.

Yours in sociology-

JAFHR

A Deeper Look at Justin Beiber

Before you stare at shock at this title and whisper things such as 'Good grief, how fickle. Bring back JAFHR's excellent views on philosophy, iTech's fascinating rants about aeroplanes and JHWW's... what does he write about? But anyway, we don't want to listen to this uncultured idiot's views about people who I'm sorry I ever heard of.'

And this would be a perfectly valid view to have, but I implore you to continue reading because there's something deeper behind the superficial nature of this 'artist'. I would also like to point out that 'a deeper look' does not involve... okay, never mind.

Bieber in New York in 2009

Basically, Justin Bieber is an internationally Canadian successful pop singer. Don't blame Canada, though, he's really as American as South Korea. Most people concentrate on the two things that I think are the least relevant to this post about Bieber: his singing ability and public image. These things though, are relevant to his fame and, to a lesser extent, popularity, so I see it as necessary to cover them briefly, Firstly, Bieber can sing. No matter what you hear his critics say, he gets the notes right and technically the only thing wrong with his voice is that it lacks the emotional depth of a better singer, Adele for instance. This problem could, however, be put down to poor lyrics, but I'll get to that later. The latter aspect of Bieber that people often draw attention to is his public image, which I won't get into too much. To his fans, he is exactly the kind of bland, unintimidating boyfriend every bland American teenager dreams of. To his haters (a group with which I do not associate myself, I might point out), he is a despicable challenge not only to his industry but to his entire gender and thus he has been labelled as many things, starting with the least vulgarity at 'gay' and ending with... well, we shan't get into that.

A shot from Bieber's hit song Boyfriend

Now, the interesting stuff. JAFHR has been going on for a while about materialism, and in Bieber I see his point. His songs, while they could be called love songs, are not about love. I know neither his fans nor haters do, but look at his lyrics. His two most popular song, Baby and Boyfriend, are as materialist as a Texan in a toy store. Baby contains the phrase 'I'll buy you anything', Boyfriend includes the line early on 'I've got some money that I'd really like to blow', while the music video shows him in a series of impossibly shiny cars on an impossibly sunny day singing to several (yes, several) impossibly attractive women. One of the cars he is driving is clearly a Ford Mustang, which is not exactly fitting considering his effeminate image and the fact that the Mustang was mocked even by Top Gear for its overt, arrogant masculinity, but makes a large amount of sense when you consider the ratio between Ford's advertising budget and Bieber's record label's artistic integrity. I'd put it at about 100,000,000 : 0.

An example of the extent of 'Bieber fever'

But what has this got to do with materialism, I hear you philosophy junkies cry. Well, if Bieber can get to the top by being incredibly bland and by pointlessly referencing Starbucks and other equally detestable companies in his songs, then surely this is reflective of our society, and it shines a harsh, damning light. Wait, I hear you cry, you would-be defender of true music, I hate Justin Bieber and so do many people. In fact we threatened to kill him multiple times. Perhaps, but does that really make it any better? I mean, thousands of young males are getting incensed over someone who should really be ignored completely if one wanted him to go away, then doesn't that shine an even harsher light? Hatred is just as bad a response as love in this case, if not worse, partially because no one hates Justin Bieber because of his music. Admittedly, many dislike his music, but often the reason is jealousy that this uninteresting, boylike adolescent should capture the hearts of so many teenage girls.

Justin Bieber isn't Justin Bieber's fault, he's our fault.

-PWN-

While researching this post PWN listened to Justin Bieber's Baby an unhealthy number of times, resulting in a catastrophic collapse of his already poor musical taste. He is currently recovering and will hopefully be fit enough to start writing a post about Frankenstein in a few days.

Beggin' yer Pardon

Dear all,

Begging your pardon for our recent apathy, we were all revising for the exams.

The Team.