A new group on the social networking site Facebook is providing a platform for hatred and racism. The group has some 300 members already and its "fans" are celebrating the racist abuse of Romanians, and other ethnic minority groups, in Belfast. It's one of the worst examples I have seen of racism online.

One contributor says he stole the coat of a Belfast rose seller, another says his friend distracted one Romanian lady while others urinated on her. The group administrator even encourages "ambitious types" to post videos on the website.

Most of the the fans registered on this hate site are fully identified, with names, photographs, addresses, and in some cases work or school affiliations.

Some well-known schools are mentioned in fan profile information, and both of Northern Ireland's universities. I suspect all those institutions will wish to be publicly disassociated from those individuals engaging in racist abuse on this site.

Some opponents of the site have also joined in order to post anti-racist comments challenging the group's content. Facebook has been contacted by others seeking to have the hate group removed, and some Facebook users have been in touch with the police to report a hate crime incident in relation to the site.

Update: The hate page has now been removed by Facebook. The Police Service of Northern Ireland have begun an investigation after receiving a number of complaints about a hate crime incident in relation to the site. And I understand that the principal of one of Northern Ireland's best-known schools has begun an investigation into the involvement of his pupils in this group.

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This work of fiction by Rebecca Goldstein isn't, I think, available yet, but it looks like fun. I'm a Goldstein fan, so this is eagerly-awaited. If you haven't read her biography of Spinoza, that's one to check out soon. There is an excerpt from the novel on the Edge site, including an appendix in which Goldstein assaults 36 philosophical arguments for God's existence. Such as:

24. The Argument from Perfect Justice

1. This world provides numerous instances of imperfect justice -- bad things happening to good people and good things happening to bad people.

2. It violates our sense of justice that imperfect justice may prevail.

3. There must be a transcendent realm in which perfect justice prevails (from 1 and 2).

4. A transcendent realm in which perfect justice prevails entails the Perfect Judge.

5. The Perfect Judge is God.

6. God exists.

FLAW: This is a good example of the Fallacy of Wishful Thinking. Our wishes for how the world should be need not be true; just because we want there to be some realm in which perfect justice applies does not mean that there is such a realm. In other words, there is no way to pass from Premise 2 to Premise 3 without the Fallacy of Wishful Thinking.

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On this day:

The world's first recorded strike took place, when laborers working on a pyramid in Egypt downed tools in 1170 BCE.

There is no evidence of a trade union's involvement.

Update: Jonathan Bartley tells me this historic strike coincides with the CBI's annual conference!

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