Kulturkampf

[benji]

[Potato]

Inherent disregard.

How are those human rights going in *checks notes* Qatar and UAE?

Qatar hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup between November and December 2022. The tournament brought a new level of global scrutiny to the serious abuses that migrant workers face in the country. Authorities have introduced several labor reforms, especially since 2018, yet the benefits of these reforms were limited by their narrow scope, late introduction, and poor enforcement. Qatari laws continue to discriminate against women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals.

In 2022, United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities introduced amendments to a wide range of laws yet continued an alarming campaign of repression and censorship against dissidents.

The UAE has expanded its surveillance capabilities, both online and through drone surveillance in public spaces. UAE authorities continue to block representatives of international human rights organizations and United Nations experts from conducting in-country research and visiting prisons and detention facilities. Local news sites exercise self-censorship, and journalists face tremendous limitations in their work. Expo 2020 took place in Dubai from October 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, after it was postponed due to Covid-19.

Maybe China is doing better. Their vote indicates they love religious freedom, and I expect they are especially respectful of their Muslim minorities...

Xinjiang
In December 2021, authorities replaced Xinjiang’s party secretary, Chen Quanguo, who oversaw the region’s repressive “Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism,” with Ma Xingrui, a technocrat experienced in governing wealthier coastal regions. In July, President Xi visited Xinjiang, and said that while the region must “maintain a firm grip on stability,” it should also “move towards prosperity.”

Despite government propaganda portraying its policies in the region as successful efforts to counter terrorism, international scrutiny of crimes against humanity in the region grew. In May, an anonymous source released hacked police files from the region, which included nearly 3,000 photos of Uyghur detainees, along with key policy documents outlining harsh policies from China’s top leadership. As many as a million people were wrongfully detained in political education camps, pretrial detention centers, and prisons at the height of the Strike Hard Campaign. While some have been released, the Chinese authorities have also sentenced an estimated half-million people, many of whom remain imprisoned, Human Rights Watch found in a September report.

Tibet
Authorities in Tibetan areas continue to enforce severe restrictions on freedoms of religion, expression, movement, and assembly. Popular concerns over issues such as mass relocation, environmental degradation, or the phasing out of the Tibetan language in primary education were met with repression. Local officials are required to educate the public in “obeying the law,” and cash rewards are offered to citizens prepared to inform on others.

Under intense censorship, Tibetans continue to be detained for online offenses, such as having banned content on their phones or “spreading rumors.” Authorities introduced a ban on posting religious teaching and other content online, intended to enforce tight official control over religious institutions and teachers. In a Tibetan area of Sichuan province, regional authorities ordered the demolition of outdoor statues and temples, the construction of which had initially been approved.

Reports emerged of the arrest and sentencing of Tibetan religious and cultural figures suspected of dissent, and of their mistreatment in detention—notably the writers Go Sherab Gyatso, Rongwo Gendun Lhundrup, and Tubten Lodro (alias Sabuchey). In March, the popular young pop singer Tsewang Norbu staged a self-immolation protest in front of the Potala Palace, the first by a Tibetan from an urban background.

Freedom of Religion
State control over religion has increased since 2016, when Xi called for “Sinicization” of religions. Going beyond controlling religion by dictating what constitutes “normal,” and therefore legal, religious activity, authorities now seek to comprehensively reshape religions such that they are consistent with the party’s ideology and that they help promote allegiance to the party and to Xi.

Police continue to harass, arrest, and imprison leaders and members of “house churches,” congregations that refuse to join official Catholic and Protestant churches. Authorities also disrupt their peaceful activities and ban them outright. In September, dozens of members of a Shenzhen church fled to Thailand to seek refuge after having left China three years ago due to escalating police harassment and after they failed to secure refugee status in South Korea. The group reported being monitored by Chinese government agents in Thailand.

The new Measures on the Administration of Internet Religious Information Services came into effect in March, prohibiting individuals or groups from teaching or otherwise propagating religion online without official approval. A widely used Catholic app, CathAssist, shut down in August because it was unable to obtain a license. The regulations have reportedly severely disrupted people’s religious life as many have increasingly relied on online religious gatherings and information especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In October 2022, the Vatican and the Chinese government renewed an agreement signed in 2018. It was renewed despite the Chinese government’s arrest of Cardinal Joseph Zen and the continued detentions of Bishops Zhang Weizhu and Cui Tai, among others.

[benji]

I somehow neglected to check the replies earlier:

[benji]

 "Protesters don't like that they have to do this either. But they are desperate because nothing really worked the past 40 years."

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

[Potato]

Last time climate activists disrupted my day they were protesting an oil and gas conference while cooking on a gas-powered BBQ. These people are not martyrs, they're just unemployable arseholes.

[Nintex]

Get Ready for the next Disney Flop

Snow White and the 7 Dwarves Homeless People





All that's missing is the Brazzers logo

[HaughtyFrank]

Why is there one actual Dwarf among the Dwarfs and the rest just of average height?

Edit: Disney claims the pictures are fake

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/07/those-politically-correct-snow-white-set-photos-are-fake-says-disney

Edit Edit:

Apparently the retracted a little and went from "fake" to saying that they're cast stand ins.

[Potato]

No way that's real

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

They're all way too ugly to be actors

.

[Nintex]

A Disney source told VF that while these are not official photos, they are from the production, with stand-ins for some cast members. The Daily Mail told VF it stands by its story.

Money is tight at Disney so they're probably shooting pornos in between shoots

[benji]

Muslimah | Activist Against Islamophobia
London, England

[jorma]

Why is there one actual Dwarf among the Dwarfs and the rest just of average height?

Edit: Disney claims the pictures are fake

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/07/those-politically-correct-snow-white-set-photos-are-fake-says-disney

it might rather be a remake of this movie: 
 

[Nintex]

   

[PhoenixDark]

I get that the fairy tale insults some dwarves, and Peter Dinklage spoke pretty eloquently about it. But why make the movie at all if this is the alternative? You're setting yourself up to be clowned, the movie isn't gonna be some smash hit anyway...so why waste 200mil to do this. Disney has a near endless amount of old cartoons to milk, why do this one.

[HardcoreRetro]

Should be a Song of the South remake but set in modern times. Have Uncle Remus sing zippedee doodah whilst the police tries to shoot him.

[Eric Cartman]

Is it worth bothering to make a distinction between the fairy tale concept of a Dwarf and real life people suffering from a disease named dwarfism?

Its like porphyria sufferers getting pissed about vampire stories because the fictional construct is loosely based upon a real world affliction.

[HaughtyFrank]

I think Disney is really all in on the culture war. They can't think of any way to make a Snow White movie interesting so the attention must come from making snow white a Latina and the dwarves a random mix of races, genders and heights.

Question is if this will pay off at the box office or not. If this is another flop I could imagine Disney doing a complete 180° and playing it pretty conservative for their next slate.

[PhoenixDark]

I think Disney is really all in on the culture war. They can't think of any way to make a Snow White movie interesting so the attention must come from making snow white a Latina and the dwarves a random mix of races, genders and heights.

Question is if this will pay off at the box office or not. If this is another flop I could imagine Disney doing a complete 180° and playing it pretty conservative for their next slate.

I don't think they'll change views on race swapping, which is understandable in the sense that rising demographics means marketing towards little Hispanic/black/Asian/etc kids is lucrative. I just wish they'd admit that's all this is, because for the most part Disney has no interest in telling Hispanic/black/Asian/etc stories. They want butts in seats. But given that this isn't really putting butts in seats beyond a handful of examples, like Miles Morales/Spiderman? Surely there has to be some course correction. 

The thing I don't understand...all of these IPs have global reach, massive success, mind share etc etc yet each time this happens the argument is "well we wanted to tell a diverse story that current generations can relate to." But...the current generation has been relating to the previous versions too, it was incredibly popular/successful, and its "diversity" related to universal truths or experiences people related to. The LOTR films grossed billions of dollars, the novels have been translated into every language on earth, and the story has stood the test of time for nearly a century. I'm not sure have to relate to current generations in order to get them to watch...LOTR. Or Snow White. Or anything, really. Doesn't mean I'd expect this stuff to be lily white either. I'm all for seeing black and Hispanic people in stuff. Too bad it's rarely more than token participation or a race swap. And it's usually done in a corny 2000s SyFy Channel way. The seven non-dwarves in those pics look laughable. The costume design is bad, the actors look weird, you already know the dialogue will be cringe worthy. It's like a generation of studio execs decided to put Jar Jar Binks in everything...but make him a non-white human. Surely there's a better way to include black people in shit than to constantly do this.

Frozen 2 is a great example of having various groups without feeling forced or corny. It's also the most successful thing Disney has done in ages. Yet for whatever reason instead of going in that direction (diverse main or side characters who are actually...characters) they keep making diverse caricatures.

[benji]

God dammit white people.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

It's like going into golden corral and asking for an extra side of no flavor

[Eric Cartman]

[Nintex]

[D3RANG3D]

[Potato]

Imagine thinking AI is racist and not just an algorithm that compiles a bunch of real world public photos into what it thinks you want...

[Puffy Fucking Baby]

shes prolly really mad cuz he real life rack isn't close to as hot as the AI one

[Polident]

God dammit white people.

Gonna guess a second generation person. Nobody else is quite as annoying.

[HaughtyFrank]

shes prolly really mad cuz he real life rack isn't close to as hot as the AI one

She says the AI is wrong and yet job offers would start flying in if she used those on LinkedIn

[Nintex]

Usually these sort of comments are hyperbole, but jesus christ 

[benji]

https://twitter.com/pauldrossi/status/1679909390806134784

Usually these sort of comments are hyperbole, but jesus christ 

Always a good sign when "educators" are hearing the voices of a guy who didn't even give the speech they think he gave.

[benji]

s

“First of all, there is an awful lot of misinformation and disinformation out there,” said Trudeau. “People on social media, particularly fuelled by the American right wing, are spreading a lot of untruths about what’s actually in the provincial curriculum.”

“If you look at the various curriculums, You’ll see that there is not what is being said out there about aggressive teaching or conversion of kids to being LGBT,” claimed Trudeau. According to him, narratives are “being weaponized by people who are not doing it because of their interest in supporting the Muslim community.”

“These are people in the far right who have consistently stood against Muslim rights and the Muslim community, but they’re weaponizing the issue of LGBT

...

Trudeau also said Muslims should unite with the LGBTQ community because both are facing “increasing levels of violence and hatred.” 

“The world is going in the wrong direction, and one thing we don’t need right now is for communities that are facing hatred to start turning on each other, rather than figure out how to support each other, how to listen, how to understand each other and work together.”

[Nintex]

If only it wasn't for these right wing YouTubers, the Muslims would've loved the gays