Thursday, July 11, 2019



Cycling festival is caught trying to appear more diverse by photoshopping a black woman rider into a promotional picture

Why can't they just treat people as people, without worrying about what groups they belong to?

A London to Surrey cycling festival has faced backlash after photoshoping a black female rider into a promotional image to make the ride appear more diverse.

Ride London posted the edited photo to their website to promote the cycle ride from London to Surrey next month.

However eagle-eyed cyclists spotted the image manipulation and criticised the afterthought, asking why the organisation hadn't directly addressed the lack of diversity, reports The Times.

The organisation which is backed by Sadiq Khan and sponsored by Prudential instead decided to add diversity through Photoshop.

Photo editors added two women from ethnic-minorities, only one of whom participated that year, to an image of the 2017 ride featuring nearly all male attendees.  

An unidentified knee wearing yellow shorts appears to be under the woman's arm - while the cyclist behind her wears black shorts, leading viewers to question the image's authenticity.

Jools Walker, a black cyclist and blogger who runs Velo City Girl told The Times: 'All I can imagine is a group of white marketing executives looking at this image and thinking: there's a problem.

'But instead of trying to address why people from these groups don't see cycling as inclusive, they decide to photoshop in ethnic minority women — badly. They should be embarrassed.'

London Marathon Events, which organised the event, have since removed the picture from its website after admitting they had combined three images.

Hugh Brasher, Event Director for Prudential RideLondon, said: 'This is a composite image, created to illustrate the range of participants in the Prudential RideLondon sportives.

'Three images have been combined to create this composite image: the female cyclists on the bottom left and bottom right were added to the central image of the two male riders bumping fists as they come down The Mall.

'All images are from riders who have participated in sportives at Prudential RideLondon and there was absolutely no intention to mislead.'  'It is not our usual practice to use composite images and this image has been removed from our website.

'We know that cycling needs to do more to encourage people from all backgrounds to get involved and that is one of the key aims of Prudential RideLondon. 'We believe that we have led the way for mass participation cycling events.

'More than 100,000 cyclists take part over the weekend in a range of different events that cater for everyone.

SOURCE  






Texas Conference Cuts Christian Speaker After Local Group Gets Nasty

Buzzwords like “tolerance” and “inclusion” are thrown around a lot lately, but more and more it looks like they only apply in one direction.

A communications director for a large church in Texas was recently disinvited from a conference simply because an LGBT-allied group also attending the event refused to tolerate his personal religious views.

To make matters worse, the conference has nothing to do with either religion or gay rights issues, but is a creative design forum for graphics and design professionals.

“David Roark, communications director for The Village Church, a Texas megachurch, was uninvited from the Circles Conference, a three-day event for graphics and user experience designers, because of his religious views,” Fox News reported on Friday.

“The Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of AIGA [American Institute of Graphic Arts] refused to partner with Circles Conference if Roark was on the roster,” the report continued.

It might be one thing if Roark was some outspoken controversial figure or ranting extremist. But by all accounts, the main reason that the oh-so-tolerant group didn’t want him to attend an event about graphic design is because of where he worships.

“We feel it would be hypocritical of us to be involved in the conference and tacitly endorse the policies of The Village Church,” the local AIGA chapter wrote. “This would be a misallocation of our membership resources and a disservice to all members of our community against whom the organization discriminates.”

Ah, yes: Discrimination as a way to fight alleged discrimination. What was that about being “hypocritical?”

Ironically, a promotional banner on AIGA’s own website declares that “we come in all shapes and sizes.” The membership page for the same site promises that “no matter who you are, you’re one of us.”

Unless you happen to a design professional for a church. If that’s who you are, you’re not invited.

“Since the beginning, one goal of Circles Conference has been to bring people of different world views and creative backgrounds together,” conference organizer Ismael Burciaga said, apparently blind to the hypocrisy of his statement.

“While cultivating a collaborative and creative culture is our top priority, we also respect the concerns of our fellow creatives and we will always be open to dialogue and transparency,” he continued, before confirming that the conference had effectively banned Roark from speaking. So much for that dialogue.

It’s worth wondering if the conference would have had the same response if the speaker’s religion hadn’t been Christianity. Consider for a moment if he had happened to be Muslim, or perhaps Hindu. Would a design conference that claims to value diversity ban a speaker for being associated with one of those faiths? It seems unlikely.

For his part, the disinvited speaker handled the matter gracefully on social media, taking a calm stance that makes the hysteria over his appearance even more ridiculous.

“I believe that to end division and pursue unity in our world, we must be willing to listen well, enter into dialogue and understand that we can show love, honor and dignity to one another while still disagreeing,” he said, according to Fox News.

“I want the creative community to be a place where individuals of all backgrounds, beliefs and lifestyles can learn from one another, regardless of differences, not a place where we shut each other out,” Roark continued.

We’re rapidly approaching a strange time when words like “tolerance” mean the opposite of what they once did, and left-leaning groups pat themselves on the backs for how many people with different beliefs they can ostracize.

You cannot promote true inclusion by excluding everyone with whom you disagree. Doing so does nothing but create an echo chamber, a vapid place where real diversity of thought is rejected and everyone must parrot the same lines.

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” used to be the proud maxim of intellectuals and classical liberals everywhere, but no longer. Up is now down, and diversity is being replaced by group-think.

SOURCE  






Man Who Bravely Fought Off Islamic Terrorists Put On Terror Watchlist By UK Gov't

The ‘Lion of London Bridge’ who bravely fought off Islamic terrorists has been put on an anti-radicalization terror watchlist by the UK government over fears he could become a right-wing extremist.

Yes, really. 49-year-old Roy Larner screamed “f*** you, I’m Millwall” as he defended himself against jihadists who ended up killing 8 people and injuring 38 others during the horrific attack in London two years ago.

The attack left Larner with more than 80 stitches to his head, ear, arms and hands after two of the terrorists slashed at his head and neck.

Following the attack, Larner revealed that the terrorists had shouted, “This is for Allah” and “Islam, Islam, Islam” during the rampage.

Now Larner himself is being treated as a potential terrorist by the UK government.

Because he was allegedly contacted by far-right anti-Islam activists, Larner has been put on the government’s Prevent terror watchlist over fears he might become an extremist.

“They treat me like a terrorist but I’m not political at all,” said Larner, who revealed he has been forced to attend de-radicalization classes and is being monitored by the police.

Despite being hailed as a hero after the attack, with speculation that he could even be given the George Cross, the highest civilian award for gallantry, Larner is now literally being treated as a potential terrorist by his own country.

The United Kingdom is so addled with political correctness, it treats those who fought back against Islamic jihadists as terrorists.

Let the sheer intensity of that level of clown world insanity sink right in.

SOURCE  





Whitewashing the truth of why men kill themselves

Relationship troubles, not mental health, lie behind the plague of male suicides, writes Bettina Arndt, reporting from Australia

Imagine the outcry if a man was appointed head of a leading domestic violence prevention organisation? So how come the federal government has just proudly announced a woman, Christine Morgan, as National Suicide Prevention Officer? This is just the latest move by a government determined to deny the fact that suicide is overwhelmingly a male problem, with six out of eight of our daily suicides taking the lives of men.

Amazingly the recently released National Suicide Prevention Implementation Plan is proudly “gender neutral”, failing to acknowledge that men not only dominate suicide statistics but offering no special programmes to address the unique causes of male suicide, which differ dramatically from those of women who end their own lives.

The alleged link to mental health problems is the most glaring mistake. “Around 80 per cent of people who die by suicide have a mental health issue,” declared ScoMo yesterday when announcing Morgan’s appointment. No, Prime Minister. That’s simply not true of men, the major group at risk. Australian research shows over half of all male suicides, 78 per cent of male farmer suicides and 83 per cent of suicides in older men were not predominantly associated with a mental health diagnosis – according to the Australian Institute of Suicide Research and Prevention and other related studies.

The government proudly declares they are working towards a zero suicide goal yet the PM lists as those most at risk, “veterans, Indigenous Australians and young people”. Not one word about the most vulnerable group – the ordinary men, particularly family men in their 30s and 40s losing their families.

That’s the elephant in the room that our governments are determined to ignore. There’s solid evidence that the major cause of suicide in this country is not mental health problems but rather the toll taken by family break-up, where fathers often face mighty battles trying to stay part of their children’s lives, up against a biased family law system which fails to enforce contact orders, and often facing false violence allegations which are now routinely used to gain advantage in family court battles. Research by the Australian Institute of Suicide Research and Prevention found that almost half of male suicides are linked with relationship issues, one in 20 are linked to child custody issues, one in 10 to pending legal matters. That’s the glaring gender difference – with male suicide three to four times more likely than female suicide to be linked to relationship break-up and child custody.

This evidence has been accumulating for years and no one wants to talk about it. Remember that lavish ABC series, Man Up, made by radio star Gus Worland? Hours of television focusing on the high male suicide rate, endlessly discussing why men won’t talk about their feelings – and barely a word about why men are killing themselves. Last year Worland’s new charity, Gotcha4Life, raised nearly half a million dollars to “save the lives of men suffering mental illness”, money to be spent mainly on programmes in schools teaching boys to express their feelings.

Whenever there’s a known link to female suicide, like post-partum depression, the money pours in to properly address the problem. Yet men struggling to deal with the devastating consequences of dealing with family break-up are given no support. Key organisations providing support for men in these circumstance – like Dads in Distress – face constant battles for funding.

Maybe it is time for the quiet Australians to speak out about this shocking whitewashing of the proper facts about suicide in this country. Contact your MP, ring radio stations, use social media posts to protest the government’s wrong-fisted handling of this important social issue. The six men dying each day in Australia deserve the truth to be told.

SOURCE  

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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