Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin - This Week in Stupid (25⧸10⧸2015) - Part 1

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Oct. 25, 2015 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin

13:43

This Week in Stupid (25⧸10⧸2015) - Part 1

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	Hello everyone, welcome to this week in Stupid for the 25th of October 2015.
	I'm not at my office still, so the sound quality might be a little lower than usual.
	I apologise in advance, and this episode will have to be split into two, thanks to a false DMCA claim that apparently has come from MTV.
	From someone using a Gmail account called MTV Bralis.
	Now, I don't know how valid this account is or whether it actually represents MTV Bralis or Lacey Green's problematic assertions.
	I am of course fighting it because I was using the content under fair use, but in the meantime, I am restricted to 15 minutes worth of video at a time.
	So rather than restrict this week in Stupid like last time, I figure I'd just carry on and do two parts, because this past week was another one of those weeks that was really fucking bizarre.
	But first, some good news.
	Pharma Bro Company now worthless, as new competitors offer the same drug for $1.
	You may remember how unpopular Martin Shkreli was after raising the price of Daraprim from $13.50 per capsule to $750 per capsule after taking ownership of the patent in order to price gouge those in need of the drug because it was the only one of its kind on the market.
	The drug was used to treat toxoplasmosis in cancer and HIV positive patients, and so effectively this guy was gouging people who were dying.
	Well it seems that his peers in other drug companies don't really appreciate what he's done, saying that he had raised the price of his drug to a previously unheard of level and that his actions are counterproductive and there's no justification for it other than profit.
	Honestly, I have real trouble not being cynical about this.
	As nice and humanitarian as these CEOs of giant pharmaceutical corporations are being by doing this and using the free market to benefit the consumer.
	All fantastic.
	I do wonder how much of this is a reaction to Shkrelli making them all look bad.
	But either way, I guess we shouldn't complain because this is a lovely example of how the free market works in favour of the consumer.
	People suffering from the worst diseases known to man get their treatment at a much more reasonable cost and a complete dickhead gets his absolute comeuppance.
	I shouldn't enjoy it, but there is a little bit of Schaldenfreud there.
	I'm not gonna lie.
	So where were you when the Prime Minister of Israel decided that the Holocaust wasn't actually Hitler's idea, it was actually a Muslim's idea.
	Isn't this just the most amazing thing you've ever seen?
	When in the world would you ever have predicted that the Prime Minister of Israel would lay the blame for the Holocaust at the feet of someone other than the Nazis?
	So apparently in a speech this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested the Holocaust wasn't Hitler's idea because he was actively looking to destroy my comment sections.
	Rather he pointed to Jerusalem's then Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini who met with the Nazi leader in Germany in the early 1940s.
	I can hardly read this with a straight face.
	Hitler didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time.
	He wanted to expel the Jews.
	Netanyahu said at the 37th Zionist Congress, according to a transcript on his website.
	And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said, if you expel them, they'll all come here.
	So what should I do with them? Hitler asked.
	Husseini said, burn them.
	I remember a while ago when Netanyahu was saying that Iran had effectively overrun the Middle East.
	And I was like, you're talking as if they've just conquered Sardis.
	They haven't overrun the Middle East.
	The Middle East is a shitstorm, but it's not overrun by the Iranians.
	And there were some people who said things like, oh, you know more about this than the Prime Minister of Israel, do you?
	And I was trying to explain to them that his whole job was based on fear-mongering and bullshit.
	And I really think that this supports that thesis.
	I mean, this makes Hitler sound like a man who doesn't have any ideas of his own.
	He doesn't know what to do.
	He doesn't have any direction in his political career.
	But okay, Benjamin Netanyahu.
	Hitler didn't do nothing.
	He's a good boy.
	He's just trying to get his life back on track.
	Do you have any evidence to support this?
	The answer is, of course, absolutely not.
	There's no video or audio or even a transcript that can definitively prove Netanyahu's account of the conversation between Hitler and Husseini, who as Grand Mufti oversaw Muslim sites in Jerusalem.
	This is why I don't take Benjamin Netanyahu seriously.
	He seems to be full of shit.
	But you can't deny the man's effectiveness as a uniter of disparate factions, because it quickly spurred criticism in Israel and Palestine, with some claiming that Netanyahu had effectively absolved Hitler of the Holocaust's most gruesome and deplorable aspect, and instead blamed Husseini, then and now a renowned figure in Palestinian circles, for the systematic killing of more than 6 million Jews.
	It's not just the Palestinians who are upset.
	Netanyahu has been blasted in Israel.
	Isaac Herzog, head of the opposition Zionist Union Party, said Netanyahu, through his comments, has forgotten that he is not only the Israeli Prime Minister, but also the Prime Minister of the Jewish people.
	That's not what he's saying.
	He's just saying that, look, what did Hitler really do wrong?
	I mean, what did he do that was so wrong that can't also be blamed on the Muslims?
	I'm not joking, and I am so sorry.
	I can't read this with a straight face.
	Talking before a trip to Berlin, the same place where Hitler and Husseini met, he called the criticisms absurd and insisted that he had no intention to absolve Hitler of responsibility for his diabolical destruction of European Jewry.
	Who the fuck uses the word Jewry apart from Stormfront?
	But Netanyahu stood by his condemnation of Husseini for encouraging and urging Hitler, citing testimony by a deputy of key Nazi figure Adolf Eichmann during his trial for his role in the Holocaust.
	The Mufti was instrumental in his decision to exterminate the Jews of Europe.
	Well, you lost the German vote, Netanyahu.
	Germany tells Netanyahu we are responsible for the Holocaust.
	Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germans were very clear in our minds that the Nazis were responsible.
	And speaking alongside Mrs. Merkel in Berlin, Netanyahu decided that in fact no one should deny that Hitler was responsible for the Holocaust.
	But could we please blame the Muslims just a little bit?
	Since we're on the topic of politics, I wonder what the most pressing issues the new Prime Minister of Canada is going to be talking about.
	Stand against Gamergate, says Canadian Prime Minister.
	Really, is this the biggest, most pressing issue Canada faces?
	A movement for ethical journalism, anti-censorship and freedom of expression.
	Is that really what you need to stand against?
	Video games' misogyny in popular culture must be opposed, says country head.
	Oh god.
	Okay, I take it that you're a feminist.
	I am a feminist.
	Proud to be a feminist, Justin said during a TV interview.
	I've cut out so much laughter from this episode.
	So Canada is becoming the English-speaking world Sweden.
	I have a funny feeling this guy is probably going to feature in many future episodes of This Week in Stupid.
	I mean look at this.
	He says he's a proud feminist and that Gamergate should clearly be opposed by those respectful of the rights of others.
	Okay, but what about the rights of the people who are campaigning for better standards in the video game industry?
	What about their rights?
	Gamergate began in August 2014 and has been responsible.
	Not allegedly responsible, just it's categoric now.
	You know it.
	Much in the same way that, you know, Netanyahu knows that Hitler didn't do nothing wrong.
	But it's responsible for the harassment of many women working in the video game industry.
	Notably, Zoe Quinn Brenna Wu and critic Anise Sarkesian.
	Okay, well, do you have any proof of this?
	The answer is, of course, no, why would we need proof?
	Anyway, he plans to appoint a new cabinet with equal gender balance.
	Because, you know, how good they are at doing their jobs isn't really that relevant.
	What he wants to know is, what are their genitals like?
	In a news conference held on Tuesday, he offered few details about his coming agenda.
	He did not set a date for reconvening Parliament, saying only that the new cabinet will be named in two weeks and will have gender balance, meeting a commitment he had made previously.
	Okay, what does he plan to do though?
	Did he run on the idea of other people's junk?
	Did he have fucking three slides or something?
	One with all dicks, one with all vaginas, and the final one, half dicks, half vaginas, to a roaring crowd.
	What is he going to do?
	I have absolutely no idea, and I don't know where to find out what he's planning.
	I do know that he's super hot though.
	I mean, if that's not a useful piece of information, I don't know what is.
	But you know what?
	Objectifying Justin Trudeau is not okay.
	This is an article from the Huffington Post, and it beggars belief that they are the voice of reason in this circumstance.
	Let's pause and talk about Belinda Stronach for a moment.
	For those of you who are unfamiliar with her, Stranach was a Conservative Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2008, crossing the floor during the Liberals sometime in between.
	She was Minister of Human Resources and Skills as well as a successful businesswoman and philanthropist.
	She is most famous for dating Minister of Justice Peter McKay and being really hot.
	This is apparently a picture of her from Google and yeah, she seems to be quite good looking.
	Nearly everyone threw in their two cents about how hot she was, but soon her looks were all anyone would talk about.
	Her work was disregarded, the slut word was thrown around and pretty soon after that, Stronach was nothing to the media but a pretty face.
	Feminists raged about how awful it was for her to have to deal with being objectified.
	As a woman she had the right to be heard for what she was trying to do for Canada, not because of her looks.
	Do you see what I'm getting at?
	Prime Minister designate Justin Trudeau worked for his position.
	He put in the miles for his campaign trail, held his own in debates, showed cooperation with rival parties and rose from third place to a shining first.
	His father is a Canadian legend, and for all we know, he could be cut from the same cloth.
	And still, I am 100% sure that none of that matters to a lot of people because he is so damn sexy.
	This would be outrageous and unacceptable if he were a woman.
	Well, I completely see where you're coming from.
	As an egalitarian, I agree that these double standards are completely unacceptable, and there's no way in hell feminists would stand for it if this was a woman.
	What you're failing to understand though, and I'm amazed that you fail to understand this given that you write for the Huffington Post, is that feminists are gigantic fucking hypocrites and they will come up with bullshit rationales that they will fail to substantiate in order to continue doing one thing for one and another thing for another as long as they get to do it and you don't.
	Because it's okay when they do it, but it's not okay when you do it.
	Isn't that right, BuzzFeed?
	Of course, here's why you're allowed to objectify Justin Trudeau with the subtitle of Deal with It.
	I get the feeling that a very well-reasoned and clever argument is about to be made.
	Because power structures.
	That's it.
	That is the entire BuzzFeed article.
	Elamin Abdel Mahmood got paid his day's wages to write three fucking words for BuzzFeed.
	Oh, let's not forget the gift though.
	I'm sure that took a long time to find on Tumblr.
	Fucking hell.
	How is anyone meant to be persuaded by progressives when this is the quality of your argumentation?
	Because power structures.
	What fucking power structures?
	What are you talking about?
	How would it change anything if the Canadian Prime Minister were female and hot?
	That she wouldn't be allowed to be objectified, but because a man is the Prime Minister and he's good looking, it's okay to objectify him.
	There's no fucking difference.
	They're both at the top of the same motherfucking power structure, you hypocrites.
	Jesus fucking Christ.
	Uh-oh, you know what that noise means.
	The happy merchant from MTV is here to collect his shackles.

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