Wednesday, December 08, 2021



NYC's Museum of Natural History hides 'racist' Theodore Roosevelt statue under tarp and scaffolding

It is true that TR held views about black inferiority but that was just the norm in his day

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City has covered the controversial statue of President Theodore Roosevelt ahead of its long-term loan to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota.

The statue, which stood on the front steps of the museum for eight decades, has been hidden under a tarp and scaffolding. It was covered up just two weeks after the removal was announced, with the process to shift the 80 year-old monument set to take several months, according to museum staff.

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, which is set to open in Medora, North Dakota in 2026, announced their agreement with the City of New York for a long-term loan two weeks ago. No information on how long the loan is intended to last for has been provided by the museum.

The Roosevelt statue was commissioned by the Board of Trustees of the New York State Roosevelt Memorial in 1929 and welcomed guests at the front of the American Museum of Natural History since 1940.

The statue has long been criticized, however, for its depiction of Roosevelt on horseback alongside a black man and Native American, which critics have said signifies a racial hierarchy in which Roosevelt stands higher than the other two.

Objections to the statue grew more forceful in recent years, especially after the murder of George Floyd that sparked a racial reckoning and a wave of protests across the US.

While opposition to the statue has reached an all-time high, others are upset by the statue's removal.

Stefano Forte, whose running for New York Senate, tweeted: 'So sad to go by the Museum of Natural History today and see the statue of Teddy Roosevelt all covered up.'

'We need icons like Teddy to inspire the next generation of trust-busters and populists. Tearing this statue down and erasing his image is a damn shame.

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‘Woke’ Is a Bad Word for a Real Threat to American Democracy

In authoritarian regimes, vengeance and coercion stand in place of justice and reason. I’ve seen it before.

By Garry Kasparov (Former Soviet refusenik)

The search is on for new words for old ideas. “Cancel culture” and “woke” have become overused and abused, part of a struggle to define one’s political opponents in the harshest possible way, to dismiss ideas as not only wrong or harmful, but intolerable.

As a nonnative English speaker, I am content to avoid rhetorical fashion and use older phrases. Call it the mob mentality, groupthink, or punitive neo-Puritan orthodoxy. It is the abuse of power—mostly social, not yet governmental—to silence debate and paralyze the spread of any ideas that challenge the prevailing ideological dogma. It is the coordinated, coercive attempt to win a debate by ending debate—to punish, not to educate.

The leading practitioners of these tactics have two contradictory responses to criticism. First, they say it isn’t happening, that it doesn’t exist, that drawing attention to it is a rhetorical whine to silence critics of the establishment and shield the privileged from accountability. Second, they blame the victims, calling them bad people with bad ideas who should be banished to make room for more diverse voices. Claiming you are fighting fire with fire can be used to justify any excess; the only way to fight back is to take freedom away from someone else.

The politics of personal destruction have run amok online and off. Full disclosure: I’ve been friends with Peter Thiel for years. I disagree with him on many things, especially lately, but the attacks on him have been disturbing. In his recent book “The Contrarian,” journalist Max Chafkin assigns an ideology to Mr. Thiel, then suggests it is “fascistic” and even tries to blame this concocted “Thielism” for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. There is little doubt that the book would never have come to be had Mr. Thiel not supported Donald Trump in 2016. Suddenly, a secretive libertarian tech investor with a complex history and identity—immigrant, gay, Stanford Law grad, coastal elite—became simply evil, and Mr. Chafkin was quickly paid to fill hundreds of pages to support that preordained conclusion.

Criticism of politically active billionaires and tech giants is essential. But as the left did with the Koch brothers and the right has done with George Soros, demonizing people for wealth and political activity can spin out of control. Muckraking books, screaming mobs—in person, not only online—and rumors about your personal life shouldn’t be the price of political involvement in a democracy.

Tearing down the powerful may be satisfying, if briefly, but remember who inevitably suffers most when justice is abandoned in favor of vengeance and destruction. Black Lives Matter, a necessary idea and important human-rights movement, has been hijacked by leaders who seek only power—and who are willing to sacrifice their supposed beneficiaries to achieve it. Who will be harmed most when the police are defunded, the public education system wrecked? Not the elites. The Russian Revolution dispatched some wealthy landowners, but its natural outcome was a new form of slavery under totalitarian Communism—all in the name of equality and freedom, of course.

Putting ideology and politics ahead of reason is as dangerous as putting them ahead of justice. Mr. Trump and his administration used the possibility that Covid-19 originated in a Wuhan laboratory to bash China and deflect attention from his administration’s catastrophic pandemic response. A corresponding rise in hate crimes against Asians helped turn a crucial line of inquiry into a politicized bludgeon.

The left’s reaction to Mr. Trump’s rhetoric was instructive. Anyone who mentioned the lab-leak theory was assailed as pro-Trump. Social-media companies removed posts mentioning it. By January 2021, it was obvious that shutting down debate was the true antiscience position. Invaluable months were lost, time the Chinese Communist Party used to destroy data and spread disinformation about the virus’s origins. We may never know the truth, but we do know there was a coverup.

Increasing numbers of Americans believe their freedom is under attack, and I agree. Antidemocratic forces are on the rise. Election results are treated as suspect. Threats of violence are becoming routine.

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Physicist who says her 'naturally loud' style is part of her German heritage and she was a victim of racist criticism was wrongly sacked for shouting, tribunal rules

A senior academic who claimed criticism of her 'naturally loud' voice was racist because she inherited it from her German parents has won a harassment case after university bosses grew sick of her 'shouting' and sacked her.

Physicist Dr Annette Plaut - described as a 'Marmite character' - was unfairly fired after 30 years at Exeter University, an employment tribunal found.

The lecturer admitted she was 'inherently loud', 'naturally argumentative' in conversation, spoke with vigorous hand gestures, and was so passionate about physics she would get overexcited.

But while many students and colleagues liked the University of Exeter academic's teaching style, some co-workers found her 'overbearing' and 'highly uncomfortable' to deal with, the hearing was told.

The physicist was suspended and sacked following a disciplinary hearing in December 2019, after bosses said she was also shouting at PhD students and causing them stress and anxiety.

However, at a tribunal in Exeter, Dr Plaut, who has German parents, claimed her eastern European Jewish heritage and upbringing means she has 'inherent characteristics of loudness', and a conversational style that is argumentative with 'interruption and much hand movement'.

She insisted 'there was nothing she could do about it' when she became excited and her body language became demonstrative.

Finding the university guilty of harassment, victimisation and unfair dismissal over the sacking, Employment Judge Paul Housego criticised the way an academic of such long standing could have been treated.

Senior management 'decided Dr Plaut would not be tolerated further', subjected her to a disciplinary investigation over accusations she 'shouted' at a PhD student and then used it as a 'pretext' to fire her, the panel concluded.

The experimental physics lecturer - an expert on graphene who was the first female in her department - is now in line to receive compensation after successfully suing the university for victimisation, harassment, and unfair dismissal.

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Heritage’s Kara Frederick Testifies Before Congress on Holding Big Tech Accountable

Kara Frederick, a research fellow for technology policy at The Heritage Foundation and a former Facebook employee, recently testified before the House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology on how to how Big Tech accountable.

Frederick raised the alarm on the left’s proposed reforms, welcomed by Big Tech, that aim to further suppress viewpoints they don’t like.

“Big Tech companies are not afraid of the American people or meaningful checks on their abuse of power. And it shows. We should be wary of proposals and calls to further suppress content based on politically expedient definitions of ‘misinformation.’ The Wuhan lab leak theory and the Hunter Biden laptop come to mind. Let the whistleblower documents speak for themselves,” said Frederick.

Here are some of Frederick’s recommendations to confront Big Tech’s flagrant abuse of power  

“Holding Big Tech accountable should result in less censorship, not more. The First Amendment should also be the standard from which all Section 230 reforms flow.

“Section 230 reform is not a silver bullet. We have to look outside DC for answers. States, civil society, and tech founders all have a role to play. Despite what the new Twitter CEO may think, American lawmakers have a duty to protect and defend the rights given to us by God and enshrined in our Constitution by the Founders – rights that specific tech companies, in conjunction with the government, are actively and deliberately eroding.”

“We cannot let tech totalitarians shape a digital world where one set of thinkers are second-class citizens.”

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

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