Friday, August 10, 2018

GAB: The Eye of Redmond Is Upon Them...



I am not a fan of the antisemitism on Gab (while Gab is definitely not a hate site, people say what they want there and there are some very vocal antisemitic folks on Gab). Being an antisemitic or racist is not illegal. Let people say what they want (provided they are not promoting violence or criminal acts). Free speech is the freedom to be offensive. How I handle antisemitism on Gab is I ignore it (I won't bother getting in arguments with people over it since a lot of them are looking for attention). Redmond, however, is deciding to intervene.

So which is worse? A few antisemitic individuals on GAB spewing hateful nonsense (again, they are just individuals who are on that site) or Microsoft intervening and threatening to de-platform the entire site if offending statements are not taken down?  What Microsoft is doing will only give attention and fuel to the minority spouting the hate. If Gab's position is it does not kick off users over issues of pure speech (short of it being criminal or illegal or abusive to other Gab users), why should Microsoft intervene?

And what makes this even worse is antisemitism and racism on the left gets a complete pass and is ignored by the media. Antisemitism and racism on the right is used to label all on the right.

EBL: Democrat Ilhan Omar She spews Jew and Israel hatred and that is just fine for Democrats and Media outlets

AoSHQ: CNN working with internet platforms to kick off Alex Jones and RealConservatives

Instapundit: Years of racist tweets not a firing offense at the NYT Twitter why ok?

TOM: Democrats: The Party of Hate

A classic:
Lord of the OS 
Recently one of my friends, a computer wizard, paid me a visit. As we were talking I mentioned that I had recently installed Windows XP on my PC. I told him how happy I was with this operating system and showed him the Windows XP CD. To my surprise he threw it into my microwave oven and turned it on. Instantly I got very upset, because the CD had become precious to me, but he said: 'Do not worry, it is unharmed.' After a few minutes he took the CD out, gave it to me and said: 'Take a close look at it.' To my surprise the CD was quite cold to hold and it seemed to be heavier than before. At first I could not see anything, but on the inner edge of the central hole I saw an inscription, an inscription finer than anything I had ever seen before. The inscription shone piercingly bright, and yet remote, as if out of a great depth:

12413AEB2ED4FA5E6F7D78E78BEDE820945092OF923A40EElOE5 I OCC98D444AA08EI 
'I cannot understand the fiery letters,' I said in a timid voice. 
'No but I can,' he said. 'The letters are Hex, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Microsoft, which I shall not utter here. But in common English this is what it says: 
One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them,
One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
It is only two lines from a verse long known in System-lore:
"Three OS's from corporate-kings in their towers of glass,
Seven from valley-lords where orchards used to grow,
Nine from dotcoms doomed to die,
One from the Dark Lord Gates on his dark throne
In the Land of Redmond where the Shadows lie.
One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them,
One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Redmond where the Shadows lie."'



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