Affirmative action is recursive: whether it works depends on our interpretations of it. … Read the rest
Kicking and Spanking
Jan 6th, 2005 7:00 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis is an odd piece – a mix of harsh but possibly true observations and macho unpleasantness. Of course the one so often does slop over into the other. I do that slopping often myself, at least so I’m told (and I’m sure it’s true). That’s what’s usually going on in disagreements over Richard Dawkins (and Christopher Hitchens, too: he attracts such Necker cube-like clashes of perception the way chocolate attracts, er, me). Many people think Dawkins is being rude, tactless, brutal, self-satisfied and the like, while others think he is being honest and fog-dispelling. I tend to the latter view, but then I’m an atheist myself, so what he says doesn’t get up my nose at the outset.
But … Read the rest
Appeasment
Jan 6th, 2005 6:26 pm | By Ophelia BensonWell said, Salman. In a sharp letter to the Guardian in reply to a silly comment of Ian Jack’s on Saturday (I saw the comment at the time, rolled my eyes and wanted to argue with it, but also wanted a rest from the sound of my own voice arguing), in which he mentions the ‘currently fashionable Blairite politics of religious appeasement at all costs.’
… Read the restShould we now censor ourselves because the current potentates of the Islamic faith are more repressive than their predecessors? Do we have no principles of our own? The continuing collapse of liberal, democratic, secular and humanist principles in the face of the increasingly strident demands of organised religions is perhaps the most worrying aspect of
A Culture of Conformity in the Humanities?
Jan 6th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonScholes, Appiah, Menand, Guillory and others discuss the problem.… Read the rest
Politics of Religious Appeasment at all Costs
Jan 6th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSalman Rushdie laments collapse of liberal principles before religions’ strident demands.… Read the rest
Unionists Around the World Condemn Murder
Jan 6th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLast month at ICFTU congress Salih spoke of hopes to build a democratic union.… Read the rest
Shock and Revulsion at Torture and Murder
Jan 6th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAttack on the right of Iraqi workers to trade union representation.… Read the rest
AFL-CIO Condemns Murder of Iraqi Trade Unionist
Jan 6th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHadi Salih was shot by assassins who broke into his Baghdad home January 4.… Read the rest
Partial defence = support
Jan 6th, 2005 | By Julian Baggini“In the Guardian last week, the eminent philosopher, Julian Baggini, announced that, contrary to appearances, New Labour’s plans for identity cards were an idea which should be embraced by the left.”
Nick Cohen, the Observer, 5 December 2004
Bad moves can be made by readers as well as writers. When those readers are writers themselves, the result can be flagrant misrepresentation of someone’s position, which is very irksome for the inaccurately portrayed party.
I have been at the receiving end of this kind of thing several times now, and a pattern seems to be emerging. Time and again, people mistake a partial defence of something for full support of it. It seems impossible to point out that something can … Read the rest
Massimo Pigliucci on Nonsense on Stilts
Jan 5th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRhetoric, mistaken claims, sweeping statements, unhelpful analogy taken for deep insight… … Read the rest
Steven Weinberg on Oppenheimer Biography
Jan 5th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHe was wide open to new ideas and had the ability to understand anything.… Read the rest
Are You an Altie?
Jan 5th, 2005 | By an American Cancer SurgeonA while back on misc.health.alternative, a term was coined to describe people who are so militantly pro-alternative medicine and so distrustful of conventional medicine that they will never admit when conventional medicine is effective and refuse ever to concede that any alternative medical practitioner might, just might, possibly be a quack. (Certain regulars on misc.health.alternative inspired this term. One day perhaps I will discuss a couple of specific examples with actual posts by them to Usenet, so that you can see even more clearly what I mean.) I forgot which m.h.a. skeptical regular coined the term, but the term was “altie.” About a year ago, we even came up with a Jeff Foxworthy-like list of traits of alties (“You … Read the rest
A Televisual Feast
Jan 4th, 2005 11:39 pm | By Ophelia BensonIf you listen to the most recent Start the Week – well you have to listen to a good bit of Ann Widdicombe, which I think is fairly unpleasant – but you could always fast forward. The last ten minutes or so you get Kenan Malik talking about Islamophobia and the religious hatred law. It’s good stuff. He thinks the idea of ‘Islamophobia’ is badly overblown and works to silence criticism of Islam and that that’s a bad thing. As you will have surmised, he also thinks the religious hatred law is a bad thing for the same sort of reason. He asks exactly the question I’ve been bleating and whining and braying for several months – why is it … Read the rest
Kenan Malik Questions Islamophobia
Jan 4th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIs hatred of Muslims being exaggerated to silence critics of Islam?… Read the rest
Burma Death Toll Much Higher Than Officials Say
Jan 4th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonGovernment sealed off parts of coast after tsunami, fueling public suspicions.… Read the rest
Philip Stott on Voltaire and Earthquake Theology
Jan 4th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLisbon challenged both religion and enlightenment beliefs in an ordered and predictable universe.… Read the rest
NY Times: a Few Answers to Edge Question
Jan 4th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDawkins, Sapolsky, Harris, Zimbardo, LeDoux, Humphrey.… Read the rest
The Edge Annual Question
Jan 4th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhat do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?… Read the rest
Francophobia Cool in US
Jan 4th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDon’t speak French, don’t have French relatives, don’t eat or drink French, don’t think French.… Read the rest
Kenan Malik on Islamophobia
Jan 4th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnd religious hatred law, on Start the Week. audio… Read the rest