We believe government should be driven by reason and common values, not theology or cultural traditions.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Brian Whitaker on BMSD Launch
May 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBaroness Kishwer Falkner said Catholics and Muslims ‘want a very special level of exceptionalism.’… Read the rest
British Muslims for Secular Democracy
May 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAlibhai-Brown asks ‘How is it that the Sikhs and Hindus can live in democracy but not Muslims?’… Read the rest
The Humanities Might Nurture Moral Seriousness
May 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe aesthetic disposition is less quietist than dispositions which see everything as ‘always already” inscribed’… Read the rest
Against Taylorism in Education
May 2nd, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIf teachers are to be visible embodiments of intelligence, skill, and scholarship, they must first be visible.… Read the rest
It was a very invective sort of tone
May 1st, 2008 12:13 pm | By Ophelia BensonI hope you’re not bored with Priya Venkatesan yet, because I’m not. She’s the mother lode, so to speak.
Tyler Brace asked her if it was true that she called the students fascist demagogues, and she said no never, not true.
… Read the restI went into class after that whole clapping incident, and I said. ‘What you did was horrific. What you did was really bad.’ Not bad, I didn’t accuse them of being bad, I said what you did was unacceptable. They started arguing with me. I said fine. You think you know everything. You think you know everything without the knowledge base to boot, without the training, you think you have a command of all the knowledge in the world
Katha Pollitt on Polygynists and the Pope
May 1st, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe pope wants women to be trapped in marriage with 15 children just as the FLDSers do.… Read the rest
Priya Venkatesan Explains About Science
May 1st, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLiterary theorist goes to work in a lab, finds that science is science. World tilts on axis.… Read the rest
Dartmouth Review Talks to Priya Venkatesan
May 1st, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘It offended their sensibilities, because the whole course was about problematizing science and technology.’… Read the rest
How to Teach Writing
May 1st, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘A lawsuit in which I am accusing some of you (whom shall go unmentioned in this email) of violating Title VII of anti-federal discrimination laws.’… Read the rest
Beyond a joke
May 1st, 2008 3:25 am | By Ophelia BensonOkay I take it back, it’s not funny, it’s disgusting. Read the interview – in Dartmouth Review, a notoriously right-wing paper, and by god she’s giving them ammunition.
Read her dropping names and explaining that students are not familiar with these earth-shaking names and so that’s why they get everything wrong and don’t understand how right she is.
… Read the restit’s kind of interesting that when you are trained in graduate school, it’s sort of like, you know, you’re trained in this kind of—I don’t want to say it’s political—you must be aware that most college campuses are very liberal…and the training which you receive, it’s very much slanted toward a particular political point of view…In other words, talk about, you
I’ll sue, ya bastids!
May 1st, 2008 2:39 am | By Ophelia BensonIs it another Sokal hoax? It is a massive con, right? It can’t be for real? Priya Venkatesan is too good to be true, isn’t she?
… Read the restDear former class members of Science, Technology and Society:
I tried to send an email through my server but got undelivered messages. I regret to inform you that I am pursuing a lawsuit in which I am accusing some of you (whom shall go unmentioned in this email) of violating Title VII of anti-federal discrimination laws. The feeling that I am getting from the outside world is that Dartmouth is considered a bigoted place, so this may not be news and I may be successful in this lawsuit. I am also writing a
Isn’t it romantic
May 1st, 2008 2:10 am | By Ophelia BensonHow romantic. It makes me go all sentimental. Is it the same for you?
… Read the restShe screamed, kicked and scratched at the man, but he brought three male friends, a driver and two backup abductors to ensure she couldn’t escape. More young men in a second vehicle trailed, on the lookout for witnesses who might try to halt the brazen afternoon capture. But Ms. Edieva knew that no Chechen would rescue her that September day nearly three years ago. Well versed in Chechnya’s bride-abducting traditions, she understood she was caught up in a centuries-old ritual in which her captor, a suitor she had frequently rebuffed, was going to force her to marry him. “I told him I hated him,” she
Lecturer Considers Suing Her Students
Apr 30th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThey disagreed with her. Surely that’s illegal?… Read the rest
Violent Abduction: How Romantic
Apr 30th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘If a woman can tell her children that their father kidnapped her, it’s a great love story.’ Right.… Read the rest
So We Should Prefer a Dim Bulb?
Apr 30th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIs Obama called an elitist because he is comfortable with and in command of nuanced ideas? … Read the rest
Myths About Vaccines and Autism
Apr 30th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonProponents maintain their belief largely through the generous application of conspiracy thinking.… Read the rest
There is no Shortage of Godbothering Books
Apr 30th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThey far outnumber the putative flood of atheist books. Carlin Romano reads a few.… Read the rest
Review of Mary Lefkowitz’s ‘History Lesson’
Apr 30th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTeachers owe it to themselves and their students to get as close as possible to the truth.… Read the rest
Does science make belief in God obsolete?
Apr 30th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTempleton foundation asks; Pinker, Hoodbhoy, Midgley, Hitchens, others answer.… Read the rest