Category: internet censorship

Emma Watson Nude Photo Hoax; Big Brother 15 David Girton Full Frontal Nudity; SF Gay Sex Clubs Going Extinct

Emma Watson Nude Photo Hoax

In a more complicated story about the nude celebrity photo leaks recently, this one about Emma Watson is really a lot more serious than I think most people realize. It combines feminist discrimination, privacy issues, and censorship…plus a few more. In short, Emma Watson delivered a speech on feminism and a group called 4chan didn’t like it. In response, 4chan allegedly planned to release nude photos of Watson. There was a special Watson web site launched, with a countdown to the release of the nude photos. Somehow a group called Rantic got involved and they made things even more complicated. I’m still unsure about whether or not the photos were released.

Rantic wrote an open letter to the President:

 “We have been hired by celebrity publicists to bring this disgusting issue to attention. The recent 4chan celebrity nude leaks in past 2 months have been an invasion of privacy and is also clear indication that the internet NEEDS to be censored. Every Facebook like, share & Twitter mention will count as a social signature — and will be one step closer to shutting down http://www.4chan.org. “

You can read the entire piece here. The thing that worries me the most is the part about censorship.

Big Brother 15 David Girton Full Frontal Nudity

Well over a year ago I did a few posts about racism and gaycism on Big Brother 15, issues that really turned a lot of people off on the show. It got great ratings, but at what future expense? I haven’t felt the same about BB since then. Which is a shame, because I think the game itself is fascinating. This season has been tame in comparison to BB 15 and it was pleasantly reminiscent of the game when it first aired over a decade ago. I think all BB fans hope this continues.

In any event, here’s a link to an article about David Girton who happened to be a BB houseguest during season 15…the racist season. I don’t even remember him because he was one of the first voted off…if not the first. He’s recently gained attention from his unusual tweets and the personal full frontal nude shots he’s been posting on twitter. He has over 22K followers and he’s only following 228 people. They aren’t following him because of his clever, witty tweets.

We can’t say he was on our radar for long (or at all), but here he is now, posting fully nude dick pics, wearing women’s panties, cruising for a dick to suck and seeking weed on Twitter. Consider him back on our radar.
 
There’s really no explanation for what caused Girton to turn his profile into a XXX paradise, but some things are best left unexplained, right?
 
Of course there’s an explanation. He wants attention and this is the only way he’ll ever get it. Why gloss over it? Frankly, I’ve seen authors do far worse in my time. At least Girton’s up front and honest about it.
 
You can read the rest here.
 
 

SF Gay Sex Clubs Going Extinct

Here’s an article about San Francisco gay sex clubs becoming extinct, which if history repeats itself shouldn’t surprise anyone. A great deal of gay culture is changing and the gay bar is nothing at all like it used to be unless you go to select places in the US where there is a small concentration of gay men holding on to what they’ve always known. At one time, not more than fifteen years ago, we had three gay bars in New Hope and all were destinations for gay men coming from as far away as Connecticut and Washington, D.C. on weekends. We have one bar left, and it’s mostly a mixed crowd now. Interestingly, we have probably more gay men…couples…living in the area than ever before. Tony and I have neighbors that back up to our property on the west side who are gay and we’ve never actually met them.

This article says there are five reasons why these sex clubs are going extinct. Here’s one:

Hookup apps
Apps like Grindr, Jack’d and SCRUFF have revolutionized how we go about finding Mr. Right Now. Once upon a time, gay men relied on bathhouses and sex clubs to meet one another. These days we’re all about efficiency and location, location, location. With just the swipe of a finger, your next paramour can be in your bedroom in five minutes flat. No more driving across town and paying a $20 entrance fee.

I think that’s the biggest and most important reason…the Internet.

You can read the rest here. I wonder how I’ll be posting about this topic five years from now.

 
Cowboy Howdy
 
by Ryan Field
 
 
 

How Do You "Disemvowel" Someone?

Technically, you don’t disemvowel people. To state that would be vacuous. You disemvowel words…from what I gather. I’d never heard of this term before last night. I was perusing the web and catching up on various blog posts where high drama seems to be out of control sometimes and came across “disemvowel” and couldn’t resist looking it up.

Wiki says this about “disemvoweling.”

Because disemvoweling makes text legible only through significant cognitive effort, it is used by moderators on internet forums, newsgroups and blogs as a way to limit the effectiveness of unwanted postings or comments, such as rudeness or criticism. Disemvoweling maintains some transparency, both of the act and the underlying word, which would not be the case if the entire offending post is deleted. The word disemvoweling is a pun on vowel and disembowel.[1]

Wiki says this about “disembowelment.”

Disembowelment may result from an accident, but has also been used as a method of torture and execution. In such practices, disembowelment may be accompanied by other forms of torture, and/or the removal of other vital organs.

While “disemvowel” is clearly a pun…or just another internet-ism like WTF-ery…that’s mainly used by snarkfest bloggers who always know how to get attention by creating shitstorms all over the Internet, you have to wonder about the symbolic association connected to disembowelment.

Even though I’m sure it’s not a conscious thought, I have to wonder whether or not a blogger who would post something like this has a few subconscious desires/issues that run deeper than we might think.

You also have to wonder why anyone would go through the trouble of disemvoweling a comment on a blog thread when all they have to do is delete it. That’s what most bloggers do. In fact, I’ve been reading personal blogs, interviewing personal bloggers, and reviewing personal blogs for almost ten years and I have never once seen this word until last night.

Evidently, I’ve been hanging out in the wrong places.

In any event, I think it’s an interesting word. It’s not something I would make a practice of doing often…if ever. I’m not big on internet-isms as a rule. They only work once, at best, and get tired fast. But more than that, I would probably remain wary of someone who did practice it. Some think it’s a form of censorship.

I didn’t know this either, from Urban Dictionary:

The process by which moderators of left-wing Internet blogs and message boards can censor the messages of those who disagree with their views without completely deleting them, thus allowing them to claim that they are NOT censoring messages.

Y cn’t hlp bt lv ths snrky ntrntsms, nd, th ppl wh prctc thm nd tk thm srsly 🙂

Going Dark Today

I’m going dark today, in theory, to protest Internet censorship and the people who don’t understand the Internet. I’ve read about SOPA and what it could mean. If this becomes law, web sites could be taken down instantly, without question, for posting something as simple as a photo. In other words, we won’t be considered innocent until proven guilty.

Let me also put it this way:

I’ve experienced this on facebook already. My account was taken down because someone didn’t like what I posted and “reported” me. And it was nothing lewd or adult oriented. I keep my facebook updates G rated like I keep this blog. The reason was lgbt general content. Of course I appealed and facebook restored my account. I don’t think facebook is anti-gay. I just think they like control. But it’s not a great feeling to know that they have this much control. And it will feel even worse if the entire Internet is controlled in this manner.

So I’m going dark until 8 tonight.

Learn more about SOPA