Christ is Risen, dear brothers and sisters!I would like to share the joy of the holy day of Easter with all of you. The Lord has indeed saved us all through his resurrection. And in order to comprehend the significance of this for us as mankind we could consider this example. Just imagine that someone innocent took the blame, responsibility and penalty for all the crimes ever committed by all the wrongdoers and rendered them all free by taking their penalty for them. Our Lord Jesus Christ did just the same, yet with one condition – he didn’t open the doors of the prison cells the sinners are contained in, but undid their locks. And now it is our free choice – to step out and be free or remain locked up. In one of the hymns, we praise our risen Savior saying that He smashed open the eternal fetters and chains and freed us of them. But in order for us to step out of that door and become free we need to make our way towards Him, because there is only one way that leads to the door beyond which the freedom lies. Our circumstances in life, superstitions, all kinds of stereotypes and false values lead us off this path. We often get tempted with other ways to freedom. At times people spend their entire lives pursuing these ways only to find out in the end that they’re still locked up and instead of obtaining freedom have hit the wall. Some may still have the time and energy to resume their search for a way out, while others may give up the hope to escape their imprisonment. If we turn to Christ, we open the door that He unlocked for us. We become free and empowered by His ways and commandments. We become free to live a full life. This doesn’t require any exhausting effort. It only takes to believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ has risen and saved us. It only takes to believe that the door is open. It only takes to believe that living by His will is the true freedom while any other way is the opposite. And when we begin to realize this, a whole new life opens to us. We find it easier to be good to people, refrain from foul words or judgments and make our way through life without hurting other people or crippling them. We discover that we are able to love, be faithful, and carry the truth into the world. That’s what life in Christ means, that’s what the true freedom is. Maintaining freedom isn’t easy. Each one of us knows how difficult it is for a state to protect its freedom and independence. It sometimes takes a lot of hard work. Protecting one’s freedom from numerous temptations and illusions that the dark powers are sending our way to drive us off the way to salvation isn’t easy just the same way. The holy day of Easter is a celebration of victory and freedom. Let’s embrace this holy day with these feelings and make the decision, as much as we can, to start making our way towards our risen Savior through the door that He gracefully opened for us by His holy deeds of mercy and truth – and we can do so by helping those who need our help, promoting peace, justice and love among all of us. Christ is risen indeed! Amen! … Read More
The most racist commercial of all time?
Oh, it’s weird, all right. It’s aggressive and provocative — two qualities you don’t usually expect from a soda commercial, but not surprising at all coming from the minds behind Odd Future. But does this new series of Mountain Dew ads actually reinforce ugly stereotypes? Or are its critics missing the point?Back in March, Tyler, the Creator cheerfully announced on Twitter that “They Let My Stupid Ideas Come To Life, Thanks Dew!” He followed up by unleashing the spot he directed – a surreal vision in which Errol Chatham’s finds himself distracted by a fellow restaurant patron – the “nasty,” rampaging, Dew-chugging Felicia the Goat.In the newest spot, Felicia’s terrified waitress, now bruised and hobbling on crutches, is led into a lineup at a police station. And there’s the goat, flanked by young minority men. The white cop tells the blonde lady to make an identification, but the goat ominously warms “Ya better not snitch on a playa,” because “Snitches get stitches.”Continue Reading… … Read More
‘I love it when Swedish stereotypes fall apart’
With the sun finally showing its face in the far north of Sweden, ex-Londoner Paul Connolly debunks some of the common stereotypes about his corner of the country, and explains how some recent good news may help break the social barrier. … Read More
Bad advice for cheated wives
It’s an irresistible hook: A woman who used to charge cheating husbands for sex starts charging cheated wives for advice on how to prevent their husbands from cheating. It’s no surprise that UK tabloid The Sun went for it — along with a fancy photo shoot of escort-turned-relationship-expert Rebecca Dakin and the splashy headline, “I had sex with 1,000 men as £700-a-time hooker …now I’m an infidelity counsellor.”Normally it’d be the type of all-sorts-of-exploitative piece I’d barely roll my eyes at before moving along — but it’s the advice she’s offering in particular that deserves a second look, if only because it’s so pedestrian, and so misguided.Her teaching? Have lots of sex with your husband.To Dakin’s credit, she acknowledges that there are “obviously other factors” to infidelity, but she argues that, as The Sun paraphrases, it most often “simply comes down to not giving their men enough sex.” She also falls back on some classic gender stereotypes: “Men are sexual creatures — unlike a lot of women, they can separate the act of sex from love,” she said. (I will take a moment here to give Dakin the benefit of the doubt: It’s hard to know where her advice ends and The Sun’s sensationalist editorializing begins; I’ve contacted her but have yet to hear back.)Continue Reading… … Read More
EU porn ban voted down amid censorship concerns
Members of the European Parliament voted 368-159 in favor ofpassing a report titled “Eliminating gender stereotypes in theEU.”The rejection of a controversial “porn ban” proposal hasseemingly become a major victory for online freedom. But the resultwas “a little bit unclear,” Christian Engstrom, MEP withSweden’s Pirate Party, told RT.“The European Parliament said no to turning Internet serviceproviders into porn police, and they said no to setting upauthorities to regulate media,” Engstrom explained, adding,though, that the European Parliament still expresses support for anolder resolution to ban pornography.The particular clause has been dropped from the text of the newresolution, but it still contains references to an earlier resolution passed by the parliament in1997 which calls for “statutory measures to prevent any form ofpornography in the media and in advertising.” Although theresolution is not legally binding, it can be used as a basis toform legislation.The “gender stereotypes” report was first introduced back inDecember 2012. The porn-blocking proposals were suggested by MEPfor the Dutch Socialist Party Kartika Tamara Liotard, and wentmostly unnoticed until some of the MEPs sounded the alarm in Marchcalling on citizens to protest the measure.The controversy further escalated after hundreds of e-mails sentto MEPs about the vote were blocked.Engstrom was one of the MEPs outraged by the interference by theEuropean Parliament’s IT department to filter politicians’mail.“I wrote a letter to the president of the EuropeanParliament, complaining and saying that I find it completelyunacceptable, if the Parliament’s IT support department suddenlydecides to block communication from my voters,” Engstrom toldRT.“My job as an elected parliamentarian is to be in contactwith citizens and voters,” he added. “I find it unacceptablethat the Parliament blocks that.”Similar tactics to shield MEPs from the voice of the people wereused during the worldwide protest against the Antipiracy TradeAgreement (ACTA) which is seen as a direct attack on privacy andfreedom on the Internet.Although ACTA was rejected by most of the European Parliament,activists are concerned that legislators are still looking foralternative routes to impose censorship under the guise ofcopyright protection or protecting audiences from harmfulinformation.“In general we see this trend with many different actorswanting to censor the Internet, wanting to control theInternet,” Engstrom said. “So what we’re doing is trying todefend the freedom of the Internet, because we believe it isabsolutely essential in a free and open society to have a freeInternet, without censorship and without a lot ofsurveillance.”Meanwhile, at the level of member states EU legislators are alsomulling the idea of banning pornography. Last December the UKbecame the first country to try and block access to all pornographywebsites. The idea however was rejected over the lack of publicsupport.Later in February, Icelandic legislators revealed that they arelooking for the best technical ways to “tackle porn on theInternet,” raising concerns that Iceland’s online pornographycensorship scheme would be implemented all over the EU. … Read More
EU porn ban: ‘Censorship disguised by noble idea’
Fabio Reinhardt, co-chairman of the Pirate Party of the BerlinParliament, told RT that the initiative threatens freedom of speechas politicians look for new ways to control the Internet.“It is a very noble undertaking – and I think this is one ofthe most important problems that we face – to erase genderstereotypes, especially in commercials and merchandising,” hesaid. “We have a rise in the numbers of gender stereotypes, andI think it is very important that politics is underway to undertakesomething there – but I think this is more than just that.”Reinhardt argues that state censorship of pornography could seta dangerous precedent.“It is a plan that could lead to a very harmful way ofdamaging the Internet in the long run,” he toldRT.The approval of the report, called “Eliminating genderstereotypes in the EU,” would not be legally binding, but it couldbecome the first step towards legislation.Speaking of the report, Reinhardt said “It is shaping theposition of the EU for the [coming] years throughout the Internet,and I think it is very important to defend Internet freedom andcitizens’ rights on every step of the legislature process inBrussels and Strasbourg.”If the MEPs vote in favor of the proposal, many fear it could beused to justify other censorship measures.“I think it is very important we take a firm step and saythat we do not want to have any Internet censorship – even if theidea behind it is a very noble idea,” Reinhardt said.A ban on pornography had previously been discussed in Iceland,where it was allegedly aimed at protecting children from onlinethreats. Now, the trend has spread to the EU.“There are a lot of countries that are discussing or arecensoring the Internet one way or the other, and all of this istaking place under the pretext of acting against pornography oracting against child pornography,” Reinhardt explained.“There are several countries in Europe doing this right now, andusually this is done behind the back door or something – so most ofthe time citizens don’t realize what is going on.”Reinhardt speculated that the reason politicians areincreasingly eyeing the Internet is because they are terrified byits power.“I think they are somehow threatened by the Internet,”Reinhardt said. “I think it is very easy to control TV and someother channels, but it is very difficult to control what is goingon on the Internet. It is a very new medium. People are discussingvery freely and I think politicians on all levels are trying tofind out if there are new and different ways to control what isgoing on on the Internet and control the public and free opinionthere.” … Read More
Gaza blackout: Press ban breeds mistrust between Israelis, Palestinians
RT’s Paula Slier spoke with some of her colleagues, who talkedabout how they have tried to tell the stories of Palestinians andIsraelis across the frontlines of the conflict. These journalistshave also had first-hand experience with just how difficult a taskthis can be for reporters.Sami Al-Ajrami is a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, who used towork in the Israeli media before the ruling Hamas party banned suchemployment. He cannot understand the ban, he said, which has closedoff yet another way of delivering the Palestinian message toIsrael.“Israel is using the media in its war against us,”Al-Ajrami told RT. “In this war journalists are under attack.They want to kill all our words and reports that prove that therewere war crimes in Gaza.” Ohad Hemo is an Israeli who used to work in Gaza until six yearsago, when Israel banned all its journalists from working in theregion over security issues. He believes that the Hamas ban hurtsfuture prospects for reconciliation.“I think that the problem of Hamas is normalization, andconnecting, trying, working with the Israeli media,” Hemoexplained.Now, only party-sanctioned journalists can report from Hamasterritory, resulting in a virtual media blackout. The lack of realinformation perpetuates stereotypes on both sides of the divide,which has done nothing but breed hatred and distrust, Slierreported. … Read More
