Words, a headwind and two questions

[la_marquise]

Rewrites still progressing, with reasonable fluency. I'm toying with cutting a minor character entirely, as they are a hangover from a much earlier version of the plot and actually add nothing. Aude is learning to be proper, and isn't appreciative: "Aude doubted that. Her new maid continued to pull her hair and lace her garments too tight, and never, ever smiled, not even when the most fashionable modiste in all the city came to measure Aude for her new wardrobe. There was a dancing master, too, and a lady of uncertain age and origin who gave instruction in the holding of fans and the placing of flowers."

While Sophy (the car) is at the car spa, I am back on my bicycle. There are not words for how much I dislike cycling. It really doesn't go well with skirts (or my winter coat). It really doesn't go well with the sort of stuff I carry about, either (there is no sensible way to transport boxes of index cards by bike, let me tell you). I know there are specialist garments and carriers. They aren't for me: I don't have that kind of life and I don't really want it. Walking, I love, but for longer distances it can be very time consuming. So today I cycled, and froze (because the coat is too long). A little known fact outside this city is the existence of the Cambridge Headwind. Whichever direction you are going here, you will be cycling into the wind, and the longer the road the more true this will be. Today I battled it both up and down Coldhams Lane, tomorrow I will dare Mill Road. Meanwhile the builders are back (finally, hurray) and the garden is somehow even muddier (as, therefore, are the cats' paws).

It is, I suspect, never wise to post about politics in other countries, but regarding the events in Arizona, I do have to ask: is there such a crime as hate speech, or behaviour liable to incite violence in the US? Because some of the rhetoric that is out there from the right wing would be actionable here, I think.
And secondly, another of my very dim questions. I note that when other people insert links into their ljs, they can do it not just as a website address but as a sentence which overlies the latter. How, please?

Skirt of the day: blue wedgewood over red crinkle.

Comments

[yendi]

There's not hate speech, per se (at least, not in this context), and the test for speech that incites violence is pretty stringent; I don't see any way it would apply here without proof of a direct causal link (atmosphere of hate doesn't count). As to the second question, it's done via standard html. Type: (triangle bracket)a href="yourlinkhere"(triangle bracket)The sentence you want to link(triangle bracket)/A(triangle bracket) (Sorry about the coding; LJ insisted on formatting it the first time, so I went for the uglier option.)

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Thank you. I tend to assume that politicians have legal advisers, but some of the things that are said sound very scary.
The technical advice is greatly appreciated.

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

For the links, the code is < a href="link goes here"> Sentence goes here. < / a> Only remove the space before the first < and a (the space between a and href stays), and all the spaces in the closing tag.

I believe the US does have incitement laws, but I'm not sure exactly how they work.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Thank you.

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

First, the easy one: how to embed a link in text (word or sentence). You will need to remove all the spaces I've inserted in the command below for it to work:

< a href = "PUT URL HERE--I copy and paste from the browser" > type whatever word of sentence you want to here and close with < / a >

Regarding hate speech/incitement to violence: I am totally not a lawyer or even close to one, and keep in mind that we have state laws that can differ from federal laws.

During the 1990s, a lot of U.S. university campuses tried to craft speech codes regulating hate speech; just about all of them, as I understand/recall, fell down in court. I used to teach composition units on the issue during that time, and had some poli sci and law people in to give guest lectures. (The irony here is that the conservative then criticized attempts to regular racial hate and sexuality hate and characterized ethnic minorities and sexual minorities as wimps--then come the 2000s plus, and fundamentalist Christian conservatives are pumping out rhetoric about how they are so abused on college campuses!).

As I understood it then, there are laws (not sure if it's state or federal) about incitement to violence, but there is an incredibly strict standard of evidence and a need to show really tight connection between speech act and violent act.

And since I'm a pretty strong advocate of free speech, I understand that, but am frustrated (read pissed off as hell) that Arizona has passed a law that attempts to shut down certain classes which to me is complete violation of academic freedom and free speech in educational arena: I don't think embedded links work in comments, so I'll just copy the full thing):

http://education.change.org/blog/view/arizona_politician_wants_to_whitewash_history_silencing_latino_voices

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

Heh, sorry, when I started typing out long comment, there were no comments--but I shoulda known!

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Thank you.
That law is appalling: I was an academic myself for years, and that kind of state interference -- for political motives, moreover -- is completely wrong.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I know that wind! I went to school a few miles south of Cambridge and the wind on the playing fields in winter blew straight in from the Urals.

I love cycling and have been working on getting at least some mileage in in winter. If it's not icy (which, I think, is a no-no on a bike) I can manage 30-60 minutes down to about a windchill of -10 or so. Below that I give up.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

That's the wind all right. But you are made of far sterner stuff than I am.

[stina-leicht.livejournal.com]

i'll skip the parts of your questions about links and hate speech as they seem to be pretty thoroughly covered by others. however, there is a small part that has been missed which i'll add.

slander. there are, in fact, laws against slander. i haven't heard of anyone being prosecuted for slander in a long time. i'm not sure why.

another point: i'm confused as to why conservative politicians and leaders seem to think that violent language is okay--and any sort of censure is treading on their rights to free speach. i've been told by conservatives that they can't be bothered to be "politically correct." you know what? if i showed up in any workplace and talked to my coworkers the way conservative politicians talk to liberal politicians on the legislative floor, i'd be fired. instantly. and not just fired. i'd be forcibly escorted out of the building by security. anyone would. it's very possible that a police report would be filed as well.

there is such thing as professionalism. it exists for a reason. if conservatives can't wrap their heads around the issue any other way, i think they try that one out.

also, let's think about the word "leadership" for a minute. what does it mean? how does it function? direct cause or not, a leader's role is to influence those that follow them, isn't it?

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

'm confused as to why conservative politicians and leaders seem to think that violent language is okay--and any sort of censure is treading on their rights to free speach.

Yes, me too. It's this aspect that I find so baffling.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

The ever-thoughtful Lance Mannion discusses the issue of violent metaphors in conservative speech.

I remember the endless winds of Iowa; the only difference was whether they were hot and dry, cold and dry, cold and wet, or cold and full of snow and ice.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

That's an interesting link: thank you.

[ex-triciasu.livejournal.com]

I didn't read all the comments but if you don't want to do html, you can also do it by highlighting the words you want to appear as linked text and then clicking on the little 'world' icon above the text box, and it will prompt you for the url. Whatever you've highlighted should appear as a linkie.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Thank you.

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

If you're down Mill Rd tomorrow pm and feel like a break, please phone or ring the bell. As long as I've made my quota of marking, I'd love to pause and chat. I'm off to bed now but will be back to the PC tomorrow morning after the dreaded meeting with Spider's English teacher.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I shall be there around lunch time, but I'm not yet sure how much time I'll have. Will mail or ring or some such.
I hope the meeting goes really well.

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

to me, some of this stuff is also seditious. But the thing is, somehow the conservatives managed to re-frame the idea of free speech in a way that things that would have been called sedition and/or treason 30 years ago cab be used as support for their argument that liberals (and really, centrists, because we have about five liberals in the whole country) are trying to take away their constitutional rights.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Yes, precisely. I find their hijacking of the idea of free speech chilling. And not at all about freedom.

[armb.livejournal.com]

I have never tried cycling wearing a skirt (nor kilt), but I would have thought a low step-through frame and a skirt guard solved the obvious problems, though it won't help with the headwind.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Skirt guards are getting harder and harder to find, sadly, and they aren't completely effective. I end up tying knots in the skirt.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I sometimes hold a handful of skirt to the handlebars with each hand, but in winter, that would leave you too cold. I agree skirt guards are of limited value - you can still get your skirt caught up when you brake.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Yes, I do the handlebar thing, too. But bikes just aren't designed for skirts any more.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on your rewrite progress!!!

I'm not familiar with the laws regarding hate speech, but I'm very disappointed in some of what I'm hearing.

[(Anonymous)]

I am very happy to usually live somewhere where hate speech results in prosecution and prison terms.

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

Sorry, the anonymous comment previously was me.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

No problem!