The Sanity Project

The “Paradox of Tolerance” swindle 1

This entry was posted in Censorship Commentary and tagged censorship liberty philosophy on by

“Paradox of Tolerance” is a favorite slogan of censorship advocates. Most often they drop the words in a discussion without elaboration to give the impression they’ve said something profound. Some will mention its connection to Karl Popper. Few will cite his words, since they’re actually opposed to censorship.

The words in question are from a footnote in The Open Society and Its Enemies. The footnote is a bit unclear; Popper was adding a passing thought, not a polished commentary. Here are the words:
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Marvel abets Chinese censorship

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged censorship China Disney Marvel MCU on by

The ruler of the world’s second most powerful country feels so insecure that he has to ban mentions of Winnie the Pooh because some people think there’s a resemblance. It would be laughable except for the real-world consequences. I’m sure none of the panels at the Chengdu Worldcon discussed Milne’s character. You also aren’t allowed to discuss it in an online game called Marvel Rivals. The use of a long list of words and phrases is flagged as inappropriate in game chat. Among the phrases Marvel won’t let you use are “Winnie the Pooh,” “Pooh,” “Tiananmen,” “1989,” and “Free Taiwan.” Ironically, Disney, which owns Marvel, also owns the animated version of Winnie the Pooh. So Disney has acquiesced in censoring the mention of its own property.
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Racist typography 1

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged grammar usage writing on by

It’s gotten incredibly common: in the same sentence in supposedly literate websites, “Black” as a skin color is consistently capitalized, while “brown,” “white,” “yellow” and so on are consistently in lower case, sometimes in the same sentence. The racial discrimination is so obvious it’s plainly intentional. What purpose does it serve?

Is it to tell us that “Black” people are the Master Race, while others are subordinate? That would be silly. Is it to provoke and anger people, so they’ll say something intemperate and open themselves to accusations of racism? I’ve often thought that, but a complex intention like that makes no sense.
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The Lost World 1

This entry was posted in Movies and tagged music silent movies on by

Let’s start 2025 with one more silent movie accompanied by me: The 1925 The Lost World. This film, presenting a plateau populated by dinosaurs, uses stop-motion effects created by Willis O’Brien, who did the effects for King Kong a few years later. It still looks pretty good. It’s vastly better than the 1960 version directed by Irwin Allen. I saw that one as a kid and immediately recognized that it was using poorly disguised lizards as dinosaurs.

The movie is based on a novel of the same title by Arthur Conan Doyle. It’s one of three novels that featured Professor Challenger, a man with a brilliant mind, a large body, and a terrible temper. The other two have fallen into obscurity. He has received the diary of an explorer, Maple White, containing sketches of dinosaurs and pterosaurs supposedly living on a South American plateau. He is ridiculed for claiming these creatures are alive in his time, and he responds by organizing an expedition to find the plateau and its inhabitants. He finds plenty of them, brought to the screen with stop motion. After his party struggles to survive and escape, he brings a brontosaurus back to London, where it gets loose to cause panic and wreckage.
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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: The 1916 film

This entry was posted in Movies and tagged music science fiction silent movies on by

The latest in my series of accompanied silent films on YouTube is an early Universal picture: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It mixes two Jules Verne novels: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Mysterious Island. It’s a breakthrough movie on a technical level and an exciting tale, though the plot is a mess. Be warned there are spoilers below the cut.
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The coming TikTok security disaster

This entry was posted in Censorship Commentary and tagged censorship China TikTok on by

As I’m writing this, the US is set to ban applications that access TikTok’s Internet service on January 19. What no one is talking about is the security nightmare that will result.

The ban won’t forbid access to TikTok; it will just forbid the preferred way to access it. App stores in the US won’t be allowed to offer the client application. Lots of other sources will still offer it. Some will be legitimate. Others will put up Trojan Horse applications. Scammers will target users trying to keep access to their accounts. A lot of devices will be infiltrated with malware.
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Addressing an insane world 1

This entry was posted in Writing and tagged education SanityProject writing on by

Insanity is the default state of humanity. Ever since I can remember, people have been declaring that their present is Heinlein’s “crazy years.” It’s getting worse, though. People are openly applauding the thug who gunned down Brian Thompson in the street. A lot of them are undoubtedly the same ones who applauded the massacre of innocent Israelis in 2023. The current president of the US abused his power to pardon his son, and the next one has declared his intent to pardon rioters who invaded the Capitol in support of his lies. The latter wants to tax imports and kick out immigrant workers who contribute to domestic production, and people cheer the policies that will inevitably make everything more expensive.

It’s easy to give in to despair. You can give up on the world and just try to enjoy the show as it collapses. But it’s too easy and accomplishes nothing. Besides, there are two reasons not to call it quits.
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Uganda Worldcon bid shifts to Rwanda

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged conventions fandom Rwanda on by

The bid for a 2028 Worldcon in Uganda, which I had criticized here and here, has changed its proposed venue to Kigali, Rwanda. The name is now ConKigali. It may be an improvement in some ways, but is it enough of one to get serious consideration?

Freedom House gives Rwanda a rating of 23, categorized as “not free.” This is lower than Uganda’s rating of 34. From the standpoint of fans’ personal safety, though, Rwanda may be the less dangerous of the two. Homosexuality isn’t outlawed, but people traveling there still need to be careful what opinions they express. The US State Department has issued a long list of “significant human rights issues” in Rwanda.
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