Links - 30th April 2014

From porn surfer to freedom fighter: How Zhang Kun became a democracy activist | South China Morning Post - "Have you thought of leading a quiet life like most of your peers, with nice clothes, good food, going on dates?
Actually, I've been quite happy throughout the campaign. I would get depressed if I just played around like the others, because I would not feel very accomplished if I cared only for my material well-being. The authorities have tried to use my parents to talk me into giving up what I've been doing. My parents actually already have a villa ready for me to settle down in, along with a beautiful girl, but I told them to trust me about what I've been doing, because it's for a good cause, as time will tell. Of course, I love my parents and I keep them informed about where I go and what I will do."

People Actually Watch Less Porn on Valentine's Day - "It shows that for one night a year at least, people are busier with their significant others than they are with Pornhub"

We Read Salon's Interview with Suey Park So You Don't Have To (and So Your Brain Won't Explode) | The Daily Banter - "I can’t tell how much of what Park says is serious, how much is performance art, how much is mindless repetition of the buzzwords and narratives drilled into a willing mind by a modern humanities and critical race theory education, and how much is just social media-fueled Millennial narcissism, her personal “brand” cranked to 11 because it’s what her fans expect and it keeps the spotlight on her. Regardless, if you’re a reasonable, sane person, it’s almost impossible to read the interview from start to finish and still take Park seriously... Suey Park is the Shia LaBeouf of activism...
Did you watch the Monday night segment on the “Colbert Report”?
No, and I think that’s an irrelevant question...
Park’s almost staggering narcissism takes over as she puts her work writing Twitter hashtags on the same level as civil rights pioneers who truly put their lives and futures on the line to advance noble causes...
Would it be inflammatory to say that you think white men are sort of the enemy?
Um. I mean I think they are, and we might as well label it. Whiteness will always be the enemy"

#CancelColbert and the politics of being offended - "For someone who is always on bed rest and suffers from a severe anxiety and eating disorder Suey sure likes making herself the center of attention. When the pressure becomes too much to bear she uses her chronic illness as an excuse to not engage with people who disagree with her... Calling for someone to be fired solely because he hurt your feelings by calling your opinions stupid is weak, immature, and shows intolerance against those who dare question your intelligence and alleged outrage. Who’s the real bully here?... To disagree with Suey Park is to be a racist, white, mansplaining liberal outraged that a Woman of Color dare speak her mind... Suey has a tendency to be triggered (a reflex stemming from mental instability) when people criticize her... Suey tends to ignore valid arguments against her because she’s incapable of disproving their points and her knack for trending hashtags and calling it activism is a cop out for not doing the real work... To sum this all up, when white people laugh at satire they are racist, but when they don’t laugh at Suey Park’s racist remarks about them they need to lighten up"
This is just a more developed version of what many people do

Put the Sex Back in Sex Ed - "Fertility is the missing chapter in sex education. Sobering facts about women’s declining fertility after their 20s are being withheld from ambitious young women, who are propelled along a career track devised for men. The refusal by public schools’ sex-education programs to acknowledge gender differences is betraying both boys and girls... Too often, sex education defines pregnancy as a pathology, for which the cure is abortion. Adolescent girls must think deeply about their ultimate aims and desires. If they want both children and a career, they should decide whether to have children early or late. There are pros, cons and trade-offs for each choice... The present system is too vulnerable to political pressures from both the left and the right–and students are trapped in the middle... Sex education has triggered recurrent controversy, partly because it is seen by religious conservatives as an instrument of secular cultural imperialism, undermining moral values. It’s time for liberals to admit that there is some truth to this and that public schools should not promulgate any ideology. The liberal response to conservatives’ demand for abstinence-only sex education has been to condemn the imposition of “fear and shame” on young people. But perhaps a bit more self-preserving fear and shame might be helpful in today’s hedonistic, media-saturated environment... public schools have no business listing the varieties of sexual gratification, from masturbation to oral and anal sex, although health educators should nonjudgmentally answer student questions about the health implications of such practices. The issue of homosexuality is a charged one. In my view, antibullying campaigns, however laudable, should not stray into political endorsement of homosexuality or gay rights causes"

The Pantheon of Dunces - "Standing in front of a bare-breasted statue at the Justice Department, Ed Meese accepts the 1,960-page report from his $500,000 pornography commission. Available in two volumes from the government for $35, the report becomes something of a cult item for its 100-plus page listing of book, movie and magazine titles (Teenage Dog Orgy, Cathy’s Sore Bottom, Lesbian Foot Lovers – The Movie) and 200 pages of detailed descriptions and excerpts from said material."

John Paul II crucifix crushes man in northern Italy - "Part of the 30m-high (100ft) sculpture collapsed at a ceremony ahead of the Pope's canonisation... It is not the first death caused by a falling crucifix in Italy. In 2004, the Associated Press reported that a 72-year old woman had been crushed to death by a 7ft-tall metal crucifix in the town of Sant'Onofrio in the south of the country."

Accused KKK Killer Was Once Caught Having Sex With a Black Male Hooker

“No platform” was once reserved for violent fascists. Now it's being used to silence debate - "No platform might be enacted in a number of ways: it could mean an institution refusing to host speakers associated with particular violent groups (something the NUS has historically done), or established political parties forbidding their representatives to share the stage with figures from far-right organisation. As a last resort, it meant taking direct action to prevent the proponent of an abhorred position from speaking. But it was traditionally about rejecting the rhetoric of violence – especially when that rhetoric was liable to inspire leagues of smash-happy skinheads. Now, no platform's remit appears to be broader. Witness the recent video from a debate at Galway University, where writer and editor Alan Johnson attempted to make the case against a boycott of Israel. Johnson’s speech is barely audible above the noise of the crowd, who boo and drum the desks. The loudest opponent, dressed in the colours of the Palestinian flag, shouts: “Fucking Zionist fucking pricks […] Get the fuck off our campus”... “I have to pay for the rest of my life because of a very small group of trans women,” she says. “I haven’t said anything hateful to any of these people, ever. All I have ever said was question the essentialist meaning of transgenderism, because, by positing gender as fixed it flies in the face of feminism.” Subsequently, Bindel has been prevented from speaking not just about transgender issues, but also about violence against women and girls. The no platforming has taken the form of direct intimidation – “I had death threats […] I was shouted at, physically attacked on stage,” Bindel tells me – as well as coming in more official guises. In 2011, the NUS GLBT conference voted to no platform her, and approved the extraordinary motion “this conference believes Julie Bindel is vile”. (Meanwhile, various tyrants and dictators have been hosted by NUS venues)... Intimidation is at the core of no platform – both the arguments for it and, increasingly, its practice. Why should a woman speaking for feminism, or a man speaking for Zionism, be deemed such a threat that they have to be shouted down, condemned as “vile”, or told to “fuck off”? Why, in the new economy of outrage, have people like Bindel and Johnson attracted the opprobrium that was formerly reserved for hypermasculine, anti-semitic white power movements? No platform now uses the pretext of opposing hate speech to justify outrageously dehumanising language, and sets up an ideal of “safe spaces” within which certain individuals can be harassed. A tool that was once intended to protect democracy from undemocratic movements has become a weapon used by the undemocratic against democracy."
When 'structural violence' is 'violence', anyone can be censored

Answer to I am 29 years old, living in Manhattan. I am surviving now with an okay income, but I'm slowly losing my motivation. How do I keep up my greed? How do I push myself to become stronger? - Quora - "Start snorting cocaine. You will eventually lose all your money and will have to start sucking dicks to buy more coke. Then you will automatically find the motivation to earn more."