All entries by this author

Xian School rejects toddler because his fathers are gay *

Jul 30th, 2012 | Filed by

The rejection letter said the school is private and thus exempt from “excessive government interference in matters of religion.”  It will get $60,000+ from feds this year.… Read the rest



Stiff upper lip v misogyny

Jul 29th, 2012 5:57 pm | By

Wow.

Last January the first meeting of the All-Party Women’s Group in the UK Parliament met to discuss “The Media: A Female Politician’s Worst Enemy?” Well there’s a subject, eh?

British women no longer apologise in a whisper: they blame themselves and each other in loud and strident voices, refusing to admit or allow any vulnerability, and advocating nothing more to counter misogyny, sexism and gender discrimination than an upper lip so stiff even Brief Encounter’s Celia Johnson would have balked.

“Have you all finished whingeing?” Janet Street-Porter shouted at the rest of the panel of female politicians and leading journalists. “What you lot have to get your heads around is that we’re our own worst enemies. That you get

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Civil but not sedate

Jul 29th, 2012 3:54 pm | By

More on this issue about how to discuss things without everyone getting out the flamethrowers, and do we even want to discuss things that way, and is it the right thing to do even if we don’t want to.

I do think it’s better to err on the side of avoiding calling people names, but I have to add that I don’t actually want a Fully Sedate™ discussion. Chris Hallquist explains one reason today.

Furthermore, most of Dan’s suggested alternatives are to a degree academic and there’s a risk of classism in demanding people put their criticisms of others in academic terms. Robin Hanson makes a good point about this:

Lower “working” class cultures tend to talk more

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Known (among women at least) as someone to avoid

Jul 29th, 2012 12:46 pm | By

It’s well known (to people who follow such things) that philosophy stands out among academic disciplines in its shortage of women.

For years, many philosophers have been frustrated by the status of women in the discipline, which remains male-dominated in many ways, even as other humanities fields have seen more women advance into  leadership positions. Various efforts have focused on issues that range from sexual harassment to questioning traditions that make many women uncomfortable.

Oh gosh, that sounds familiar. What does that remind me of? Oh yes, I remember now.

Let’s follow the link on sexual harassment, shall we? What do we find? It’s Inside Higer Ed again, Scott Jaschik again. What’s the story?

Let’s say there

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Philosophers propose boycott of all-male conferences *

Jul 29th, 2012 | Filed by

“One non-trivial way in which the status quo replicates and reinforces itself is through conferences and edited volumes that have only male, invited keynote-speakers.”… Read the rest



Kyle Sandilands isn’t going to change *

Jul 29th, 2012 | Filed by

An organisation which earns millions isn’t going to become less sexist or “edgy” when there’s no profit in doing so.… Read the rest



A camel with a hammer offers a tap upside the head

Jul 28th, 2012 4:54 pm | By

Dan Fincke has a good point in comments on his own post about namecalling on blogs (or on his blog, which comes to the same thing). It’s a point that I probably ought to do a better job of keeping in mind.

The post says don’t call people demeaning names, and says why. (It’s obvious why, of course, but having it spelled out is useful.)

Words like these use emotional violence to coerce people with the aim of driving them into submission. These words aim to do that by demeaning them so that they feel worthless and hated. These words aim to irrationally gain leverage in an argument by making someone feel intellectually insecure and interpersonally rejected if they

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



The council is leaning

Jul 28th, 2012 2:56 pm | By

A girl of 16 in the Dominican Republic is in the hospital with acute leukemia. She can’t get life-saving chemotherapy because she’s ten weeks pregnant.

Following a change to the constitution in 2010, abortion in the Dominican Republic is banned under any circumstances, even when the mother’s health or life is in danger.

But wait, you say, chemotherapy is not an abortion. Ah no, but that doesn’t matter, Rafael Romo reports for CNN.

…treatment would very likely terminate the pregnancy, a violation of Dominican anti-abortion laws.

So Dominican “anti-abortion” laws cover even life-saving medical treatment that would very likely end the pregnancy? That’s quite an anti-abortion law.

Miguel Montalvo, the director of the bioethics council that rules on the

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Mapping the streaks

Jul 28th, 2012 12:46 pm | By

Skepticism, libertarianism, and conspiracy theory sometimes combine into one package.

new research to be published in a forthcoming issue of Psychological Science has found a link between the endorsement of conspiracy theories and the rejection of established facts about climate science.

In a survey of more than 1,000 readers of websites related to climate change, people who agreed with free market economic principles and endorsed conspiracy theories were more likely to dispute that human-caused climate change was a reality.

The link between endorsing conspiracy theories and rejecting climate science facts suggests that it is the libertarian instinct to stick two fingers up at the mainstream – whatever the issue – that is important. Because a radical libertarian streak

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



He battered her about the head

Jul 28th, 2012 11:57 am | By

A squalid little story out of Manchester Crown Court.

A Muslim preacher who tried to strangle his 16-year old daughter after she refused to enter into an arranged marriage with her cousin has escaped jail.

Abid Hussain, 56, grabbed the neck of Rabiyah Abid and said: ‘If you don’t follow my rules I will kill you’ after she rejected his plans for her to wed.

Hussain also left the teenager in fear of her life as he battered her about the head at the family home above the mosque he runs at Longsight, Manchester.

A man of 56 assaulted a girl of 16. A father assaulted his daughter, after trying to force her to marry someone she didn’t want … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Are climate sceptics more likely to be conspiracy theorists? *

Jul 28th, 2012 | Filed by

The link between endorsing conspiracy theories and rejecting climate science facts suggests that the libertarian instinct to reject the mainstream is key.… Read the rest



Imam who tried to strangle daughter gets no jail time *

Jul 28th, 2012 | Filed by

At Manchester Crown Court yesterday Abid Hussain was convicted of assault and making threats to kill, received a suspended sentence of nine months.Read the rest



Teenager denied chemo because she is 10 weeks pregnant *

Jul 28th, 2012 | Filed by

A 16-year-old in the Dominican Republic has been denied chemotherapy for acute leukemia because the aggressive treatment could kill her fetus.… Read the rest



Vyckie Garrison speaking to Seattle Atheists tomorrow

Jul 27th, 2012 5:35 pm | By

Saturday, 1 p.m., the 2100 Building on at 2100 24th Avenue South, between Hill and Walker. Very near Borracchini’s Bakery.

Go to there!… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Number 4

Jul 27th, 2012 4:50 pm | By

Amy has the latest, from Nick Lee, the President of Atheist Alliance International.

Movement leaders frequently bemoan the gender imbalance in the movement and wonder what can be done to motivate more women to become active leaders. We need the diversity of thought and experiences from females (and minorities), not as tokens but as fully engaged leaders.

We do NOT need to be driving women away with frat house behavior.

Just Stop It!

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Catherine Bennett says circumcision is bad too *

Jul 27th, 2012 | Filed by

Secular circumcision has been declining in Britain in the decades since doctors ceased to extol its allegedly “hygienic” effects, much cherished by Victorians.… Read the rest



Disinformation about Burma’s Muslim “cleansing” *

Jul 27th, 2012 | Filed by

The pictures are of earthquake victims.… Read the rest



Stop before it’s too late

Jul 27th, 2012 3:26 pm | By

Deep question of the day. Is it fun to have protracted arguments about complicated subjects on Twitter?

I say no. Hell no. It’s irritating as fuck. It’s stupid. It’s pointless – because there are better tools available so why the hell use Twitter? Twitter is good for some things, but complicated arguments are not among those things.

I know this extra at the moment because some derp tried to have such an argument with me earlier and it was completely annoying. The derp read Foster Disbelief’s post about misogyny and privilege and tweeted at me

Speaking out against misogyny, and making it clear that the only valid white male opinion is one that lines up with his.

But that’s notRead the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Dr Hawa Abdi

Jul 27th, 2012 11:48 am | By

Doctor Hawa Abdi is nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize according to her foundation’s website. According to a commenter below this must be a mistake – but she’s well worth knowing about just the same.

For more than two decades, Mama Hawa has poured her blood, sweat and tears into her humanitarian work, asking for no reward as she sought to provide aid to the most vulnerable victims of the civil war. She has saved tens of thousands of lives in her hospital, while simultaneously providing an education to hundreds of displaced children at the Waqaf-Dhiblawe school.

Mama Hawa’s focus is on creating an independent Somali community, shielded from the conflict that exists outside her camp, and we hope her

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Somalia: Dr Hawa Abdi nominated for Nobel Peace Prize *

Jul 27th, 2012 | Filed by

She has saved tens of thousands of lives in her hospital, while providing an education to hundreds of displaced children at the Waqaf-Dhiblawe school.… Read the rest