Links van 24 oktober 2014 tot 27 oktober 2014

Gaming « The Dish
Am I wrong to detect in this pile-on another round of bullying of these people, of treating them as scum, of dismissing anything they might have to say? Here are Gawker’s Sam Biddle’s tweets last week: "Ultimately #GamerGate is reaffirming what we’ve known to be true for decades: nerds should be constantly shamed and degraded into submission"

Just to make sure his point wasn’t lost, he then facetiously tweeted: "Bring Back Bullying"

This was meant ironically, of course – a debating flourish. But the joke only works when you’re re-visiting those high school wars, only to dismiss the losers of them. It was a piece of condescending ridicule, designed to rub the losers’ faces in their own demise, from a prominent perch.

#GamerGate: The Players and the Played | Paula Wright
But are radical feminist claims about games promoting violent norms really correct?  Studies of violence in video games say no. Last year the U.S. Supreme Court evaluated the evidence and came to a disappointing conclusion for people, like Sarkeesian, who are fond of using ideological rhetoric to win hearts over minds before all the evidence is in.

Israelis excel at camouflaging the expulsion of Palestinians – Diplomacy and Defense Israel News | Haaretz
As the descendants of a people which was banished throughout history from its homes and various homelands, we Israelis have developed our own expulsion skills – skills that would not embarrass the kings, nobles and officials of the goyim. Our contribution to the family of banishing nations is great, especially considering our short existence as a sovereign entity.

The future of the book | The Economist
Ammost as constant as the appeal of the book has been the worry that that appeal is about to come to an end. The rise of digital technology—and especially Amazon, a bookshop unlike any seen before—underlined those fears. In the past decade people have been falling over themselves to predict the death of books, of publishers, of authors and of bookshops, even of reading itself. Of all those believed at risk, only the bookshops have actually suffered serious damage.

De shock and awe van de regeringen-De Wever – DeWereldMorgen.be
N-VA- kamerlid Koenraad Degroote verzorgt zaterdag het welkomstwoord op het Colloquium Joris Van Severen, rond de ideeën en het werk van de oprichter van het fascistische Verdinaso. “Veroordelen, dat is overdreven. Ik ga hem niet veroordelen”, zegt hij aan Le Soir. Was hij dan geen fascist? “Je moet dat zien in de historische context van toen, dat is niet vergelijkbaar met vandaag.” Joris van Severen beschouwde Hitler als te zacht tegenover de joden. Hij hoopte dat het 'Dietsche volk' sneller werk zou maken van de verdrijving van de joden uit 'Dietsland', dan de nazi's. De omarming van dergelijke figuur komt bovenop de incidenten rond regeringsleden Theo Francken, Ben Weyts en Jan Jambon.