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Themes of Deviance and Unconventionality

Nachman Ben-Yehuda

in Theocratic Democracy: The Social Construction of Religious and Secular Extremism

This chapter describes some themes, cases and affairs that served as axes around which media reports revolved for 1948-1998, and beyond. Such themes focus on such topics as archaeological ... More

This chapter describes some themes, cases and affairs that served as axes around which media reports revolved for 1948-1998, and beyond. Such themes focus on such topics as archaeological excavations, preparations to build the Third Jewish Temple, blackmail, cursing, boycotting and excommunicating, mixed mingling, elections falsifications, stopping El Al from flying on Shabbat, forbidden romances, using magical objects during election time, denial of state symbols, Ovadya Yoseph, pirate radio stations, attacks on the secular legal system, misusing and mismanagement of state funds, modesty and pornography and more.Less

The Devil in the Holy Water: Political Libel in Eighteenth-Century France: 2007 British Academy Lecture

Robert Darnton

in Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 151, 2006 Lectures

This lecture discusses an investigation of the vast but unstudied literature of libel that appeared in the French book market during the eighteenth century. It concentrates on four interconnected ... More

This lecture discusses an investigation of the vast but unstudied literature of libel that appeared in the French book market during the eighteenth century. It concentrates on four interconnected libelles from 1771 to 1793, and combines an analysis of the genre with an account of a colony of French refugees in London. These refugees were noted to have made slanderous attacks on public figures in Versailles, and even grafted a blackmail operation on to their literary speculations. The lecture shows how an ideological current was able to erode authority under the Ancien Régime and became absorbed in a new political culture.Less

The Entertainment Empire: Britain's Hollywood between the Wars

Genevieve Abravanel

in Americanizing Britain: The Rise of Modernism in the Age of the Entertainment Empire

In the period shortly after the First World War, the vast majority of films viewed in Britain and its Empire came from America. This worrisome state of affairs led some British politicians, cultural ... More

In the period shortly after the First World War, the vast majority of films viewed in Britain and its Empire came from America. This worrisome state of affairs led some British politicians, cultural critics, and writers to assert in all seriousness that Hollywood film had the potential to undermine the British Empire. This chapter introduces the concept of the “entertainment empire” in order to explain how some in Britain perceived American entertainment as a new kind of imperialism, one based less on colonial occupation and more on the marketing of mass-reproduced leisure. The chapter further considers how a group of modernist film critics including H.D., Bryher, and Kenneth Macpherson recast the aesthetic philosophy of their pioneering journal, Close Up, in reaction to the new sounds of Hollywood.Less

Holding the Line: Policing the Open Border

Patrick Major

in Behind the Berlin Wall: East Germany and the Frontiers of Power

Turns to the counter‐measures to the open border in the fifties, adopted by East German authorities forced to walk a tightrope between repression and liberalization, either of which could accelerate ... More

Turns to the counter‐measures to the open border in the fifties, adopted by East German authorities forced to walk a tightrope between repression and liberalization, either of which could accelerate flights to the West. The regime's inbuilt tendency to identify ideological factors and conspiracy theories as motives was coupled with a blind spot to the fundamental reasons driving away its citizenry. Instead, the apparatus was often blamed for the superficial handling of policy. Schemes in the early 1950s to recruit West Germans proved fanciful. More problematic was the drastic curtailment of legal travel to the Federal Republic in 1952, which petitions reveal to have caused considerable internal discontent, only partially defused by travel liberalization following the June 1953 uprising. Certain key groups such as the intelligentsia were bought off with privileges which antagonized other sections of the population. The author's research also reveals the importance of ‘legal’ defections on holiday visas in the mid‐1950s, and of the criminalization of Republikflucht in December 1957 in shifting the pattern of flights to Berlin as the easy outlet to the West. The chapter finishes by showing the police and Stasi's frantic efforts to seal off Greater Berlin with a human cordon in 1960, followed by the final decision in 1961 to resort to a physical wall.Less

Coercion and Exploitation

STUART P GREEN

in Lying, Cheating, and Stealing: A Moral Theory of White-Collar Crime

There are at least two ways in which the concept of coercion figures in the criminal law. One is as an excusing condition: a defendant who, under the effects of coercion or duress, commits what would ... More

There are at least two ways in which the concept of coercion figures in the criminal law. One is as an excusing condition: a defendant who, under the effects of coercion or duress, commits what would otherwise be a criminal act is regarded as blameless for his act, or at least as less blameworthy than he otherwise would have been. The second is as an ‘element’ of an offense: one who unjustifiably uses coercion on another does a blameworthy act, which will, if other conditions are also met, constitute a criminal offense. This chapter focuses on the second sense of coercion: it offers a brief account of what coercion means in the sense that it occurs in crimes such as extortion and blackmail, and says something about how the concept of coercion differs from that of exploitation, and why the latter form of moral wrongfulness is less comfortably subject to criminalization than the former.Less

Carbon criminals

Rob White

in Climate Change Criminology

This chapter focuses on corporate harm. The problem with trying to tackle corporate harm is that virtually every act of the corporate sector is deemed, in some way or another, to be ‘good for the ... More

This chapter focuses on corporate harm. The problem with trying to tackle corporate harm is that virtually every act of the corporate sector is deemed, in some way or another, to be ‘good for the country’. This ideology of corporate virtue, and the benefits of business for the common good, is promulgated through extensive corporate advertising campaigns, capitalist blackmail, and aggressive lobbying of government and against opponents. The prevailing view among government and business is that, with few exceptions, the ‘market’ is the best referee when it comes to preventing or stopping current and potential environmental harm. To address corporate harm, then, requires a political understanding of class power and a rejection of formally legal criteria in assessing criminality and harm. As such, it implies conflict over definitions of conduct and activity, over legitimacy of knowledge claims, and over the role and use of state instruments and citizen participation in putting limits on corporate activity.Less

Extortion and Blackmail

STUART P GREEN

in Lying, Cheating, and Stealing: A Moral Theory of White-Collar Crime

From the perspective of criminal practice, blackmail and extortion seem like fairly exotic offenses; prosecution for either is a relatively rare event. Yet no white-collar offense has received more ... More

From the perspective of criminal practice, blackmail and extortion seem like fairly exotic offenses; prosecution for either is a relatively rare event. Yet no white-collar offense has received more serious and sustained philosophical attention than blackmail (and, indirectly, extortion). What explains this anomaly? The answer is that the very factors that make the so-called ‘blackmail paradox’ such a compelling subject of theoretical analysis — in particular, the uncertain moral basis on which the offense rests — also make blackmail and extortion disfavored in the real world of criminal prosecutions. This chapter does not attempt to resolve the blackmail paradox, but rather shows how it fits into the broader theory of white-collar criminal law that is being developed.Less

The Marines at Kangyee

S. P. MacKenzie

in British Prisoners of the Korean War

This chapter examines the initial Chinese efforts to convert their first British captives, a group of junior Royal Marines, in the winter of 1950-51 at Camp 10, through a mixture of indoctrination ... More

This chapter examines the initial Chinese efforts to convert their first British captives, a group of junior Royal Marines, in the winter of 1950-51 at Camp 10, through a mixture of indoctrination and blackmail. The focus is on the extreme physical hardships these men faced, the problems the Chinese encountered in trying to bridge a yawning cultural gap while attempting political instruction, the effect of negative British assessments of US servicemen, and the significance of the absence of any British officers or senior NCOs among the captive Royal Marines after the group was transferred to Camp 5.Less

The Real Artemio Cruz: The Press Baron, Gangster Journalism, and the Regional Press

Benjamin T. Smith

in Mexican Press and Civil Society, 1940-1976: Stories from the Newsroom, Stories from the Street

This chapter examines the career of press baron José García Valseca. It also looks at his regional newspaper chain and the use of blackmail or gangster journalism by these newspapers.

From Breakthrough to Mainstream: The Politics of Potential and Blackmail

James Mitchell

in The Modern SNP: From Protest to Power

This chapter explores the struggle of the Scottish National Party (SNP) to be a part of mainstream of Scottish politics and the potential of blackmailing. The Hamilton by-election was an important ... More

This chapter explores the struggle of the Scottish National Party (SNP) to be a part of mainstream of Scottish politics and the potential of blackmailing. The Hamilton by-election was an important milestone in the party's development. The election of Winnie Ewing as Hamilton's MP pronounced the beginning of a new era in Scottish politics. The SNP's blackmail potential was linked almost exclusively to its capacity to win votes from other parties. Scottish politics became polarised in the late 1980s. The SNP had succeeded in determining itself on the left by 1997. The double whammy of the referendum defeat and election losses in 1979 had a devastating effect on the SNP. The most striking feature of the SNP during the 30 years after the Hamilton by-election was that it succeeded in maintaining a parliamentary presence at all.Less

The Worst Man in London

Andrew Glazzard

in The Case of Sherlock Holmes: Secrets and Lies in Conan Doyle's Detective Fiction

Charles Augustus Milverton, blackmailer of society women in the 1904 story that bears his name, is assumed by critics to be based on a real person – but which real person is open to doubt. The ... More

Charles Augustus Milverton, blackmailer of society women in the 1904 story that bears his name, is assumed by critics to be based on a real person – but which real person is open to doubt. The favourite is Charles Augustus Howell, a larger-than-life associate of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (whose members knew him as ‘Owl’), friend to James McNeill Whistler and Algernon Charles Swinburne, and one-time secretary to John Ruskin. However, it is by no means established that Howell was, in Lancelyn Green’s words, a ‘scoundrel and blackmailer’. He certainly seems to have fallen out with a lot of people, but the more outlandish stories about his life and death – Oscar Wilde may be the source for the claim that Howell was found dying outside a Chelsea public house ‘with his throat cut and a ten shilling piece between his clenched teeth’ – may be urban myths rather than actual facts: his death certificate, for instance, records that he died of pneumonia.Less

Public and Private Eyes

Lawrence M Friedman

in Law and Popular Culture

This chapter examines the relation between detective and mystery fiction and law. It mentions that the origin of the detective story and the law against blackmail date from about the same time, ... More

This chapter examines the relation between detective and mystery fiction and law. It mentions that the origin of the detective story and the law against blackmail date from about the same time, roughly during the first half of the 19th century. It explains that the evolution of detective and mystery fiction was influenced by crime rates and public perceptions of crime and that it had influenced changes in the images of law and it may have even led to changes in law.Less

Coercion, Threats, and the Puzzle of Blackmail

Grant Lamond

in Harm and Culpability

This chapter demonstrates the value of setting problems of criminal law theory within the broader perspective of practical philosophy. Practical philosophy concerns the nature of human action — both ... More

This chapter demonstrates the value of setting problems of criminal law theory within the broader perspective of practical philosophy. Practical philosophy concerns the nature of human action — both individual and collective — and the reasoning which (either explicitly or implicitly) underlies action. A clearer appreciation of the nature of practical reasoning can help to explain some of the specific features of the criminal law. As an illustration of this general thesis, this chapter discusses some of the more important features of coercion, coercive threats, and consent in order to show how a better understanding of these can assist in explicating an intriguing puzzle within the criminal law presented by the offence of blackmail. It argues that blackmail is, in essence, a crime which rests upon the moral wrong of depriving another of his property or interfering with his personal autonomy, without his valid consent. It is the use of coercive threats which invalidates the victim's consent to these deprivations and interferences. This chapter suggests that the crime of blackmail represents a faithful application of the harm principle.Less

Dealing with Drug Dealing

Peter Alldridge

in Harm and Culpability

Drug offences give rise to arguments for greater police powers and resources, alteration of police ethics (because of the use of agents provocateurs and various surveillance techniques) and greater ... More

Drug offences give rise to arguments for greater police powers and resources, alteration of police ethics (because of the use of agents provocateurs and various surveillance techniques) and greater internationalisation of criminal law. In seeking descriptions of what actually is wrong with any particular offence, and how to make differentiations in gravity between differing ways of committing it, one place to start is with the cases on sentencing. The leading ‘guideline’ case on sentencing for drugs offences is Aramah, in which the judgment discloses three major reasons for criminalisation: profits, consequential crime (both by users and distributors), and harm to the user. Any satisfactory explanation of what is wrong with drug dealing must account for legal regulation of tobacco and alcohol. This chapter seeks to identify the wrong in drug dealing by drawing attention to certain analytical similarities with blackmail. It also examines drug dealing as a form of exploitation and the reasons for decriminalisation of drug dealing.Less

1929: romantics and modernists on the cusp of sound

John Orr

in Romantics and Modernists in British Cinema

In Britain, the silent cinema perishes in its moment of triumph. The five landmark films of the silent era came at the instant of transition to sound in 1929. They are John Grierson's Drifters, ... More

In Britain, the silent cinema perishes in its moment of triumph. The five landmark films of the silent era came at the instant of transition to sound in 1929. They are John Grierson's Drifters, Anthony Asquith's A Cottage on Dartmoor, E. A. Dupont's Piccadilly and Alfred Hitchcock's The Manxman and his famous transition to sound, Blackmail, which exists in both silent and talkie versions. If we call these films ‘avant-garde’ because they are path-breaking, which they were, they are not part of a clearly unified British avant-garde movement. They are more accurately modernistic, experimenting with the possibilities of silent film narrative in an epoch of artistic modernism. These five silent films contain the seeds of the sensibility that dominates an earlier phase of UK cinema — romanticism. They are, we might argue, romantic and modern at the same time. If we add a sixth title, it would have to be Hitchcock's Number Seventeen, made in 1931 but released the following year.Less

Collaboration

Robin Hanson

in The Age of Em: Work, Love, and Life when Robots Rule the Earth

How do rituals differ in an em world? Today, we use rituals such as graduations, marriages, retirement parties, and funerals to jointly and overtly affirm ... More

How do rituals differ in an em world? Today, we use rituals such as graduations, marriages, retirement parties, and funerals to jointly and overtly affirm community values at key social transitions. However, if we use a broader sense of the term “ritual,” most social interactions and many apparently non-social processes are also rituals, wherein emotional energy becomes amplified as participants achieve a common focus of attention and act in ways that are finely synchronized and coordinated with each other ( Collins 2004 ). during rituals, synchronized feelings and body movements of people who are adjacent to one other become especially potent. Such group synchronization shows participants that they feel similarly to others in the group, and know each other well. people, things, and beliefs that are the mutual focus of attention in such rituals acquire added importance and emotional energy, and become able to increase the passion of subsequent rituals. The emotional energy that comes from a common focus of attention on synchronized actions has long influenced the frequency and structure of many forms of synchronized human activities, in dances, plays, movies, concerts, lectures, protests, freeways, business meetings, group recitations in schools, consumption of advertised products, and group songs that coordinate work in hunting, farming, sailing, armies, and factories. We expect ems to continue to show this tendency to prefer social situations where vivid awareness of finely synchronized actions can assure them of shared capacities and values. For example, similar to people today we expect ems to say hello and goodbye as they join and leave meetings, and to find reasons for frequent face-to-face meetings at work. Some examples of common overt rituals today are when the police stop a driver, when a waiter takes an order, when two sports teams battle in front of a crowd, and when an audience watches a movie together. In the industrial era, we have a substantially lower rate of such rituals than did our forager and farmer ancestors. For our ancestors, in contrast, it was more like having Christmas or Thanksgiving happen several times a month, with many smaller ceremonies happening several times a day (Collins 2004). Less