May 5, 2021 by Maggie McNeill
Eradicating harm-[as now] redefined-may only amount to performance art, in which the semblance of action is all that is needed. - Eric Smith
Crying WolfThis tendency has only worsened over the past decade:
Checklist (#986)The standard definition of harm has undergone concept creep...Where once the potential for harm existed in contact sports, accidents, physical altercations, traumas and so on, one might now find it while reading a question on an exam, listening to a recorded debate in a classroom or encountering an opinion on social media ...the broadening meaning of harm...can cause activists to spend so much time on relatively innocuous actions that they have none left for the arduous task of dealing with real societal harms like housing and food insecurity, failed educational institutions, violence in inner cities and disproportionate mortality rates...Defining harm as shallowly as many modern activists do leads them to mistake symbolic gestures for concrete strategies for change...the redefinition of harm [also] infantilizes people of color...I don't think a world in which people of color give their power away so easily is one any self-respecting person of color would want to see...
Your periodic reminder that Uber encourages its drivers to spy on riders and rat sex workers out to the pigs:
Uber...hire[s former pigs and spooks]...to help police catch suspected [sex worker]s...[by turning over their] uploaded information...[and] account identifiers...to...the...[pigs, referring to sex work as] human trafficking [equal to] carjackings...Uber works with the [rescue industry giant] "Polaris"...[to indoctrinate] Uber drivers [with absurd and overbroad "signs of] human trafficking["]...
A Moral Cancer (#991) 
It's unusual for prohibitionists to admit they're openly targeting black people:
[Prohibitionist] groups are applying...pressure on the Biden administration to institute a nationwide ban...o[n] menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products...precisely because of [their] popularity with African Americans...[even if] the law [is only] enforced against sellers...entrepreneurs would still have ready access to both cigarettes and menthol flavoring...[and] combin[ing] the two...[is a fairly simple] process...Unless the federal government attempts to turn menthol itself into a controlled substance, there will surely be many small-time sellers of menthol cigarettes meeting the demand of the millions of Americans who smoke them, including at least 77 percent of black smokers, but possibly as high as 88 percent (and around a quarter of white smokers)...Recall that Eric Garner's [murderer used]...the petty crime of selling loose cigarettes a[s an excuse, and]...Garner's mother, Gwendolyn Carr, became a vocal opponent of a proposal to ban menthol cigarettes in New York City [as a result]...in Massachusetts, which banned menthol cigarettes in 2020, at least one [black market] seller is facing prosecution ...the brunt of enforcement [will certainly] be borne by [black] people...
This is, unfortunately, par for the course; "progressive" campaigns to "improve" people against their will always ignore the fact that their moralistic crusades always disproportionately harm minorities, especially black people.
Prohibitionists, censors and profiteers will continue to harass businesses thus until FOSTA is overturned:
The Widening Gyre (#1128)A woman has sued Reddit [because] ex-boyfriend...repeatedly post[ed nude] images of her as a 16-year-old. The lawsuit applies controversial measures instituted in 2018 under FOSTA-SESTA ...The resulting case will test the limits of platforms' legal shields amid ongoing efforts to [destroy] the law behind them. The woman...[claims] that "Reddit knowingly benefits from lax enforcement of its content polices, including for child pornography"...She's accusing Reddit of distributing child pornography, failing to report child sexual abuse material, and violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Act...
It's ironic that the newest target of "sex trafficking" scarelore is Target:
To Molest and Rape (#1129)A...Reddit...user...who writes under the username Peeky-Lou...[and is so obsessed with] human trafficking...[fantasies that] she...[carries "]several legal self-defense items[" to go shopping at Target predictably imagined that]...three men...[in the store were] follow[ing her]..."It felt as if I was being surrounded like a wild animal -hunted, even," she wrote...The...[nitwit spent] an hour...wandering around the store, [scaring herself silly with melodramatic fantasies of]..."darkness in his eyes...an eerie smirk [and]...sinister gaze"...[when] a male employee...walk[ed] her to her car...[she] saw [something that]..."solidif[ied] all of my suspicions... A white windowless van was parked in the lot "...
Rapist cops are sometimes treated like other rapists if their victims are prepubescent:
Predictable Consequences (#1130)A [typical and representative] Louisiana [cop] has been sentenced to life in prison for raping and sexually assaulting three girls, all less than 11 years old...David Monceaux [was sentenced] to...two life terms and a 50-year sentence consecutively...without probation, parole, or suspension of sentence...his youngest victim was 4 years old...
Prohibitionism is an inherently violent belief system:
A mansion owned by Feras Antoon, a Pornhub executive, was torched in an apparent arson last [week]. Police...were initially called to [the Montreal] property...at 11:30 P.M when two people were spotted trespassing...when [they] arrived...shortly thereafter they found...a...fire...so massive that more than 80 firefighters were called in and the neighbours were forced to evacuate...
