Category Archives: YouTube

YouTube

On Thunderf00t, Park51 and the elusive point

9 Comments

This poor old blog; it just hasn’t seen much action lately. I myself have several unfinished posts in the edit bin which need attention. Hopefully the problem will atrophy as the blogging team expands before the year is out.

In the mean time, I have been blessed with a topic that’s perfect for a blog post; too big for a rant on Facebook, and too opinionated and irrelevant for a YouTube video. That topic is of course Thunderf00t’s videos about Park51. I will also be focussing on my role as a subscriber and commenter, as I have apparently become central to a debate about miscommunication.

Before getting started, I should note that I see Park51 as a complete non-issue blown up out of all proportion for the sake of sensationalism. Many of my favourite commentators on religious and rights issues have left me disappointed with the use of “they have the right but…” arguments, where what follows the “but” has been universally superfluous or just plain incorrect. False attribution, red herrings and appeals to emotion are popping up all over the place and making a mockery of the actual debate.

But of course, we all think in chorus, this is the Internet!

Continue reading On Thunderf00t, Park51 and the elusive point →

Censorship, YouTube

LiberalViewer to discuss Copyright and Fair Use at VidCon

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VidCon 2010, a conference themed around the rising internet video media phenomenon, takes place this coming weekend. I know, it’s the World Cup Final and British Grand Prix, so you won’t be seeing much of me over those two days, but something that should be of interest to all Leaguers is that Communist-Nazi-Liberal-Nazi-Scumbag LiberalViewer will be attending as a panelist to discuss the state of Copyright, YouTube’s policies, and what “fair use” really means with YouTube’s own Head of Communications and Community Policy, Victoria Grand (as well as a former EMI representative Joe Felice).

This is a great opportunity for LV to bring forward questions on behalf of the community, and that’s exactly what he’s offering to do (what a scumbag!). Even if you don’t have any questions you would like to hear asked, please head over to the video embedded below and support it. It is my hope that popularising this discussion will increase the pressure on Google to address its policy surrounding anonymous abuse of the DMCA, flagging system and rating system.

If you can cast your memory right back to January of this year, you may remember that I posted two videos on the subject. The first received widespread attention thanks to Hemant Mehta (Friendly Atheist) and PZ Myers (Pharyngula) but despite us remaining the top “technical issue”, Google have stayed suspiciously quiet.

The second video was posted in response to Google’s own invitation for site suggestions. The free speech loving community once again dominated this forum, but Google’s canned response only indicated their serious lack of understanding of the issue (and perhaps ability to read?)

Content owners who file copyright infringement notifications under the DMCA do so under penalty of perjury. When we receive a DMCA notification, we remove the posted video, send email to your registered address, and provide notice in your account. Sometimes individuals abuse the process, or are simply mistaken, because determining copyright ownership can be tricky. If you believe your content was misidentified as infringing or is a fair use, you may file a DMCA counter-notification.

Wow. Don’t they understand the word “anonymous”? We know full well how the damned thing is supposed to work Google; we’re telling you that it is open to abuse when anyone can use an unverified identity to file the notice. You know if anonymity wasn’t an option when creating an account to file such a claim, the vast majority of censorship-inspired, false DMCAs wouldn’t be filed, right?

I will be contacting LV directly with this background, just to make sure he knows how YouTube has utterly failed to respond to this issue properly in the past.


Clicky link

Censorship, YouTube

Oh Censorship, when will you learn?

10 Comments

This is the Internet.

“Woah! Slow the fork down! What does that mean?”

It means that when you try to get someone’s opinion removed, instead of constructing a mature response, said opinion will come back with force. There is no bullet to the head of popular internet content. It appears, it thrives, and if it suspiciously disappears, memefication occurs. Yes. Memefication.

If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine

Many moons ago, a YouTube user named DannyMendlow posted a comical advertisement parody entitled “Religion!”. You can tell where this is going, can’t you? The video became hugely popular, making Pharyngula and other blogs if I recall correctly. I can’t remember exactly how long ago it was originally posted, but I’m willing to wager that it was quite some time as I’ve seen this video all over the place.

I’m sure most of you are familiar with Digg. It’s a website designed to direct people to popular internet content. By Digging something, you increase its ranking on Digg, increasing the likelihood that it will be brought to the attention of the Digg massive.

DannyMendlow’s video was Dugg (Digged?) to the extent that it reached the front page. Let me make this abundantly clear: that means the video in question was well liked by a large number of people, who felt that others should see it. By some magic shortly after its arrival on the front of Digg, the video was pulled by YouTube as being ‘inappropriate’. Stupidity abounds at the YouTube HQ (which I have on good authority is manned by a crack team of ducks) because the only thing inappropriate about the video is that it’s so depressingly true. Yesterday, DannyMendlow reposted the video for the first time, and in my opinion it deserves support. I urge you to head over and favourite/rate/comment the original. Oh, and why not Digg it too? Enjoy…



Events, YouTube

League of Reason Show starts today!

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At the end of last month, the notorious YouTube creationist and geocentrist, NephilimFree, posted an open invitation to debate any other user. DonExodus2, author of many popular videos detailing evidences for evolution, accepted the challenge, and they began to establish the debate rules. It was all agreed over Skype, and I myself was privy to some of the conversation and chat between them.

The initial debate subject was Creation and Evolution. Of course, that’s not actually a debate, it’s just the teams. The debate requires a proposition (for example, “Is the Catholic Church a force for good in the world?”) for which one party can argue in favour, and one against. Without such a statement, NephilimFree’s proposal was akin to establishing a game called Chelsea and Manchester United, and then refusing to further specify what game they are actually playing. Without establishing that they are playing football (or soccer to my American friends) we have no rules in place to determine how the game can actually be won or lost. Likewise, Creation and Evolution (and the long list of other subjects NephilimFree listed he wanted to discuss) is not a debate; it’s just two nouns.

For a couple of days a debate question was established and agreed upon by both parties, as was the issue with moderators. It was shortly after that NephilimFree insisted on returning to his original proposition (despite being thoroughly educated about why it was not a debate) and began accusing DonExodus2 of backing out. I wish to make my it clear that from my position as a third person, it is NephilimFree who I think is being unreasonable, and rejecting previously accepted terms without giving good reasons.

Due to the conflict of understanding, the debate as originally planned will certainly not be going ahead, but perhaps that’s a good thing after all. On Friday, Thunderf00t posted a video detailing the first ever League of Reason Show. It’s an idea that myself and others have been considering for a long time, and since NephilimFree won’t be showing up to BlogTV (by his own admission) we have a good excuse to kick it off this weekend.

The format is quite simple; we will be using Skype and BlogTV to broadcast a group discussion, and taking questions live from creationists, or those of a theistic position who feel they can back up their claims. In order to do this, we have created a LoR Skype account (LeagueOfReason) which must be added before a question can be submitted, and a new BlogTV channel.

The show will last 2 hours, giving everyone time to pop over to watch The Atheist Experience on ustream. We won’t deny that our show is flagrantly derivative of their own, we just hope there’s room for one more. To further rip them off, we will also be uploading clips to our YouTube channel and they should be available on Monday for most people. We are not yet sure how regularly this show will take place, but dependent on the turnout, we would like to make it a weekly affair.

The show starts at 3pm EST, which is 8pm BST. This is 7pm GMT, but remember to take Summer Time into account. In any case, I recommend turning up early of course, and I hope to see you all there in the chat!

News, Reason, Religion, YouTube

Pakistan makes our point for us

10 Comments

So in case you don’t know today is Everyone Draw Mohammed Day, a day one which everyone is encouraged to draw a picture of the Muslim prophet Mohammed as a way of calling the bluff of the extremists that threaten violence against those that do just that. Now I have to admit that I am still in two minds about this. On the one hand I do think it is important to stand up to these people and show that threatening violence against people for drawing a picture will not be accepted and will not stop us from doing so. Freedom of expression baby. On the other hand I find the whole thing slightly off putting for reasons I can’t really put into words. I’m generally not a confrontational person and this all seems a bit too much like getting up in someone’s face for my liking.

 

Continue reading Pakistan makes our point for us →

Censorship, Culture, Reason, Religion, YouTube

Atheist fundamentalism?

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Fundamentalism. Not a word I ever expected to hear in connection with atheism, other than by those who don’t know any better or by those who do know better but wish to be provocative. Atheism can’t lead to fundamentalism as it has no doctrine. Atheism has no principles, no practices, no rituals and no dogma. It is simply the absense of theistic belief.

Unfortunately I have now revised my opinion, I think it is now correct to refer to atheist fundamentalism. It might not be strictly accurate, all the above applies, but I do think it is descriptive. I say this in light of a video I have just watched from Coughlan666. I’m not generally a Coughlan fan, his videos are not my cup of tea and I am not subbed to him. In fact I stumbled across his blogtv on one occasion and got booted out by him. So, credentials established, I’m not a Coughlan groupie.

In the video Coughlan reads out a number of messages he has received from atheists since he posted this video attacking Pat Condell, and quite frankly it’s disgusting. I’ll just quote a couple:
Continue reading Atheist fundamentalism? →

Philosophy, Reason, Religion, YouTube

My Letter To William Lane Craig @ Reasonablefaith.com

19 Comments

No good can come from not having the heart to write a blog, and for this reason I found myself plundering my hard drive for material that might sort of work.

Fortunately, anything relating to WLC – the lord of untruth – is worth a gander. I, along with Theo Warner and AndromedasWake and others, have recently been the bemused victims of our very own Craig fantroll; I would link but the nugatory traffic that such an action would result in seems too generous.”Victim” is, of course, subjective. Being a victim implies some sort of damage or loss, and I can detect neither, though in reality I say this only to numb the hurts. The trolling typically takes the form of either a) a short out of context clip of a video titled to inspire ridicule or b) a marginally longer but still often out of context clip of a video conjoined with a longer clip of William Craig apparently schooling us. I’m informed that Theo is reduced to a shambling mass of jelly by this stern treatment; AndromedasWake has resorted to watching videos of cats falling into boxes in order to counteract the vicious pwn, and as for myself . . . well, I’m eating a lot of chocolate and weeping into net curtains. We are pain. Continue reading My Letter To William Lane Craig @ Reasonablefaith.com →

Censorship, Entertainment, Religion, YouTube

Supporting the Free Speech of “Them” (Guest Blog)

16 Comments

I’m sure most Leaguers (especially those who frequent chat) have heard of my creationist archive project FundieVideoHell or FVH for short. As the name might suppose, FVH is a treasure trove (or virtual hell, depending on the user) of creationist and fundamentalist seminars, presentations and other assorted videos.

While I had anticipated support and thanks from my fellow rationalists, I was surprised to see support from creationists too. It seems that FVH is a common ground for both sides: rationalists can use it as a resource for material to debunk (though, sadly, I have yet to see it used this way), and creationists have a source of entertainment.

So why do I spend my time and hard drive space on the opponents to rationality, freethinking, and science? The answer is simple: as long as FundieVideoHell exists, they cannot (or rather, shouldn’t) claim they are being censored by us. Well, at least they cannot claim all atheists are censoring them.

Now, I have, so far, done this entirely on my own resources. I enjoy finding out what is new and happening from the other side. But when I came across the brochure for the “2010 Creation Supercamp,” which is only a few hours drive away, I realized something. Something that deeply frightened me: I wanted to go to this conference. I want to film creationist conferences. But I also don’t want to be an e-begger like VenomFangX.

So I was wondering, should I start a PayPal so that I can take donations from those who are willing to support FundieVideoHell? And would you (the lucky readers) be able to spread the word about FVH? I think there may be creationists out there who would help support the spread of their message, both by word-of-mouth and monetarily.

YouTube

What do you expect, I’m ill

18 Comments

So right now I am laying in bed with nasty flu like illness, periodically shifting between bouts of the shivers, hot flushes and coughing up yellow phlegm. As such my brain really isn’t up to writing anything that requires more than a modicum of thought or effort. However I am also incredibly bored and so thought I would do a quick post anyway on my aging laptop that is currently getting so hot it is starting to burn my legs. Yes, you may feel sympathy for me.

 

Anyway all I really wanted to do with this post is draw some attention to a couple of criminally undersubscribed Youtube channels that I think you should all check out. First up we have:

 

Ainulindale21 – Ainulindale21 is fairly new to Youtube and has only uploaded two videos so far but is already well on his way to being one of my favourite channels. His videos are funny, entertaining, educational and informative. I mean what more do you want. So far he has been targeting Youtube’s creepest cretard NephilimFree and has made the startling, though somewhat obvious now I think about it, observation that the guy looks rather like a potato. I look forward to more from his googley-eyed talking heads in the future.

 

k87jury – Announcing himself as “The Creationist Slayer” k87jury targets many of the less well known creationists on Youtube and does a great job of tearing down their arguments. He may not be to everyones taste but I really enjoy k87jury’s blunt, no nonsense approach to arguments and the way he gives stupid arguments all the “respect” they deserve.

 

Well, that is all I wanted to say. Not a very interesting post but then what do expect from a guy who can’t actually lift his head off of his pillow without feeling like he is going to throw up?

YouTube

Open letter to TheAtheistAntidote (Brock Lawley)

9 Comments

Brock,
What does it tell you that you have to delete my comment?

What should it tell me? You, and other theists, need to realise that when we put up good arguments against you guys and they are deleted, or ignored and the topic gets changed, or bulldozed right through with your fingers in your ears, – what else can we draw from that other than that you have no sensible refutation? And that we’re correct in our assertions? Seriously, it’s like getting an ‘A’ on a term paper.

I’ll tell you again – you have no idea of what an atheist is. You think you’ve been misrepresented by Antybu’s videos? Watch your own, and like I say – listen to what you say after the words “Atheists are…”. How many times do you need to be told? – what you say after those words is almost always WRONG. Yet you somehow ignore correction and soldier on.

You do not know what an atheist is, or how we atheists think, or do, or care about, or want. You have no idea about me, my girlfriend, her parents, the guy who works at the 7-11 store near my house, or the guy who drove my bus home yesterday. The only thing that you DO know about me and other atheists is that we are not convinced of the existence of Yahweh or any of the other deities history has noted. And you think it’s ok to make things up about us based on that? Slander us for not being convinced by what to you is sufficient evidence for Yahweh if you want, but do NOT make up lies about us as you please.

You’re not remarkable in that you do make up rubbish about us, what is remarkable about you is that you are completely impervious to correction. You are not only ignorant, but willfully so. And that, if there was such a thing as sin, would certainly be high amongst them.

If you don’t want me to pwn you on your own comments page, so much that you had to delete my last comment, then you’d better block me, because I will continue to call you on your willful misrepresentations and slanderous lies as long as you keep making them. In fact I made a thinly-veiled response video to you, but didn’t mention you by name so as to avoid giving you any undeserved publicity amongst my 17,000 subs, and the 20,000 views the video had within the first three days. I’ve linked to it at the bottom of this message. I thoroughly take your worldview and assertions to task – you’ll enjoy it, it will give you something new to utterly ignore. Just be sure to put your fingers in your ears and start saying “LA LA LA LA LA LA LA” before the page opens.

Shame on you, Brock, for remaining willfully ignorant about who and what atheists are. The corrections that fill your video comments contain an awful, awful lot that you could learn from- in that they’re written by atheists, telling you what atheists actually think! And you completely ignore them!!!
Like I say – these videos that you’ve had made against you are nothing more than you reaping what you’ve been sowing. I could not imagine a better case of poetic justice.

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