Ian Miles Cheong on the mob thuggery at UC Berkeley and its ‘progressive’ cheerleaders: 

Vocal members of the progressive left took to social media to voice their support for the riot, dubbing it a legitimate resistance movement against the Trump administration. Feminist film director Lexi Alexander, who has directed episodes of Arrow, Supergirl and American Gothic, encouraged rioters to set the campus on fire. Her calls to “join the resistance” were echoed by comedian and actress Sarah Silverman, whose outspoken calls for violent insurrection have only escalated with each passing day… Polygon senior editor Ben Kuchera expressed support for the violence, saying it was okay to punch anyone who mocked safe spaces. And Arthur Chu, the perpetually “woke” male feminist ally, invited his followers to cheer about the brutalisation of a young woman who was assaulted as she conducted an interview.

See also this thread from yesterday.

Somewhat related, this screeching creature – apparently a professor – was rendered outraged and hysterical when some of her leftist associates were arrested following an unprovoked assault on the writer Gavin McInnes. She seems to believe that she and her comrades should be able to assault people, as they deem fit, with impunity.

Also related: Laurie Penny, who has yet to comment on the UC Berkeley thuggery despite being at the scene, is now letting her followers know just how brave she is – for – wait for it – mixing with conservative students. Because unlike masked far-left rioters who are armed with iron bars and who smash windows and punch women, conservative students and Trump supporters are “vicious and vengeful.” And she’s “fucking terrified of them.” *

Earthbound telescopes taking pictures of space, as seen by telescopes in space taking pictures of Earth. // John Carpenter’s The Thing – storyboard-to-film comparisons. // Mishap with pet. // Enforcing manners. // Designer dog coats. // Retro keyboard. (h/t, Rafi) // This is one of these. // Why Marvel’s films are generally better than DC’s. // Why it’s unwise to take Salon seriously. // Thomas Sowell on personal responsibility. And on thug culture. // Upscale falcon transportation. // His first attempt. (h/t, Damian) // Ten metre tower. // Eye candy. // Eye candy 2. // All done with dandelions. // Lava stream. // Assorted gifs. // Reaction gif generator. // And finally, fragrantly, “I used a long Q-tip to extract some residue from my vagina in order to use it for my perfume.” 

As noted here recently, it’s remarkable just how often “social justice” activism is difficult to distinguish from spite and petty malice. If another example is needed, here’s how some educators at Marquette University plan to cope with a visit from Ben Shapiro: 

Chrissy Nelson, the programme assistant at the Centre for Gender and Sexualities Studies, claimed that she “just got off the phone with one of the directors of diversity on campus” and received a suggestion to reserve a seat as a student to “take a seat away from someone who would actually go” and then not attend the event. “This is what I will be advising students to do,” she adds. “Take a seat away from a student that would be interested in going.”

Remember, this isn’t the plotting of a moody and vindictive teenager. It’s a supposedly adult member of staff. One employed by the university’s Centre for Gender and Sexualities Studies, the stated goal of which is “the pursuit of knowledge and dialogue.” And hence the attempt to ensure that no-one gets to hear a speaker with whom Ms Nelson disagrees. Before devoting her energies to sabotaging other people’s evenings, Ms Nelson majored in “sociology and social justice,” which may explain her enacting of that great egalitarian maxim, “I don’t like, so you can’t have.”

Note the unspoken but blatant disdain for any students who might wish to hear Shapiro speak and ask him questions, or who might want to challenge him on some point – an activity he encourages with lengthy Q&A sessions. Ms Nelson is quite happy to deny all of those students that chance, by overriding their preferences in an underhand manner and imposing her own, selfish will. It’s the antithesis of what a university is supposed to be about, and yet it’s an attitude that’s increasingly come to define what that institution now is.

For those who missed the update, the third part of Everyday Feminism’s “Healing from Toxic Whiteness” online seminar, relayed by the intrepid SJW Nonsense, is now available. This is the one in which Everyday Feminism founder Sandra Kim insists that “people of colour” can feel the emotions of their ancestors via “inter-generational trauma,” which is, we’re told, passed on “genetically” and “lives inside of your body.”

So what do we do? I think now is the time to get serious…. It’s kind of fluffy to talk about hope at the moment. I mean hope is great but in the meantime there’s always spite. Spite is good if you can’t get to hope. Carry on living and carry on working to spite those people.

I was under the impression that for Laurie Penny, quoted above, spite had long been a default position, a familiar and rather comfortable mental state. Hence the apocalyptic psychodrama, the enthusiasm for vandalism and violence, and for physical obstruction and mob harassment, and likewise the grandiose air of entitlement, and the bizarre fabrication of threats. Along with her disdain for the concerns of taxpayers as “anodyne and inconsequential,” and her complaints that remembering birthdays is both a ghastly imposition and “unpaid emotional labour.” And – oh yes – her pride in the abuse of people who politely ask for some basic civility.

So. Not, I think, a new development.