All entries by this author

Newsweek and the Undead Freud

Mar 24th, 2006 | By Frederick Crews

Readers of the March 27, 2006, issue of Newsweek were greeted with the cover-story “news” that “Freud Is Not Dead.” Three items attempted to make that point in different ways. The author of the main article, Jerry Adler, consulted many people, including me, before writing his article. Readers of Butterflies and Wheels who took note of Newsweek’s spring offensive may be interested to see the e-mailed answers I gave to Mr. Adler’s questions, along with two subsequent assessments that I offered him after his piece was published. You will see, below, that I among others offered Newsweek reason to think clearly about the dubious nature of the editors’ attempted Freud revival.

The inconsecutive nature of my paragraphs reflects the … Read the rest



One K

Mar 24th, 2006 1:51 am | By

Good, excellent, supa. Perfect. I was still worrying about the update because about 300 people signed up but about 700 didn’t. Google changed my ‘add’ to ‘invite’ (I suppose because it’s a big list, and they don’t know me, so for anything they knew it was all a scheme to enlarge the genitalia of everyone in the whole world, which would be irksome) and I worried that the email they sent looked like spam, so a lot of them could have been filtered and a lot more deleted unread. Plus there was a thing in the email about having to set up a Google account in order to view the group website, and I figured a lot of people … Read the rest



Protectionism

Mar 23rd, 2006 8:58 pm | By

Let’s think a little about this idea that there is a tension or conflict or contradiction between freedom of speech and religious freedom.

What is meant by religious freedom? One, individual belief. No problem. However, that does not entail protection and insulation from disagreement – from awarness of other people who don’t share one’s beliefs. That is not how we understand freedom. My freedom to run up and down hooting and waggling my fingers does not mean that other people can’t laugh and point and make remarks. Freedom just means freedom, it doesn’t mean freedom plus nice pleasant soothing feelings of calm self-satisfaction free of all disruptive challenge. If you want insulation from awareness of people who don’t agree with … Read the rest



De Profundis

Mar 23rd, 2006 6:35 pm | By

What a relief it is to read Kenan Malik after Doudou Diéne.

At the beginning it feels not so much like reading Kenan Malik as like stumbling into an echo chamber.

“I believe in free speech, but…” That has become the rallying cry for the liberal left in the wake of the Danish cartoon controversy. The Guardian “believes uncompromisingly in freedom of expression, but not in any duty to gratuitously offend.” For Jack Straw freedom of speech is fine but not if it leads to an “open season” on religious taboos.

Part of the liberal left, I would urgently interject. Not all! By no means all. Not B&W and not Kenan to name two; not Nick Cohen and not … Read the rest



Ignatieff on Torture *

Mar 23rd, 2006 | Filed by

Problems begin when we descend into the particular, when we ask what exactly counts as torture. … Read the rest



Kenan Malik on ‘Too Much Respect’ *

Mar 23rd, 2006 | Filed by

‘There is no reason to treat Muslims—or, indeed, any religious believers—as special cases.’… Read the rest



On Wieseltier on Dennett’s Breaking the Spell *

Mar 23rd, 2006 | Filed by

‘The first question…about Wieseltier’s review is why he was asked to submit it in the first place.’… Read the rest



Blow Up Those Guilty Women *

Mar 23rd, 2006 | Filed by

‘The biggest nightclub in central London, no one can put their hands up and say they are innocent – those slags dancing around.’… Read the rest



The Selfish Gene Event *

Mar 23rd, 2006 | Filed by

Dennett, Ridley, McEwan, Krebs, Dawkins speak.… Read the rest



Atheists Most Distrusted Minority in US *

Mar 23rd, 2006 | Filed by

No kidding.… Read the rest



Blame Denmark

Mar 22nd, 2006 11:39 pm | By

So the UN rapporteur explains what’s going on and whose fault it is. His report is apparently not available in English yet; this rather right-wing blog translates from the excerpts Politiken and Jyllands-Posten published.

Finally, the Danish government’s first reaction – rejecting to take an official position on the nature and publication of the cartoons while referring to Freedom of Speech as well as rejecting to meet with the ambassadors from the Moslem countries – is symptomatic not only for the political trivialisation of Islamophobia but also, due to its consequences, to the central role those politically responsible have for the national extent and the international consequences in the shape of demonstrations and expressions of Islamophobia…Judicially, the Danish government ought

Read the rest


Ill Wind

Mar 22nd, 2006 10:30 pm | By

Boy, Conservative MPs don’t talk this way around here. Conservative MPs, conservative Representatives; whatever – anyway they don’t talk like that around here. We should be so lucky.

The whole climate in which religion is discussed has chilled notably in the past few months. After the Danish cartoon controversy, the momentum is with those people who use their particular, narrow faith to silence other voices. If you doubt that’s so, just ask why no British newspaper felt that it could reproduce those cartoons. And reflect on why the British and American governments had to apologise for the offence caused. What were governments doing saying sorry for the independent actions of free citizens? Bending before a very ill wind.

Exactly. And … Read the rest



Who Was That Young Man?

Mar 22nd, 2006 7:58 pm | By

So that’s how it went.

On 3 September 2002, the first day of the autumn term, the respondent (then aged nearly 14) went to the school with her brother and another young man. They asked to speak to the head teacher, who was not available, and they spoke to the assistant head teacher, Mr Moore. They insisted that the respondent be allowed to attend the school wearing the long garment she had on that day, which was a long coat-like garment known as a jilbab. They talked of human rights and legal proceedings. Mr Moore felt that their approach was unreasonable and he felt threatened…The young men said they were not prepared to compromise over this issue.

Who was … Read the rest



Heroism

Mar 22nd, 2006 7:53 pm | By

I’ve noticed something interesting. Ever read any Deborah Tannen? Differences in the way women and men use language? Women say ‘sorry’ a lot more than men do, that kind of thing? Somewhat worrying, a tad too similar to the Gilligan-Harding school of feminism which is too inclined to characterize women as big soppy soft-headed damp-palmed lachrymose huggy squishy melty getOFFme fools – but interesting all the same, and she is better at both gathering data and thinking about the data once she’s gathered. Anyway – differences in the way men and women use language. I think I’ve noticed a new one (new in the sense that I hadn’t noticed it before, though Tannen probably has). Here is my theory. [protracted … Read the rest



Excerpts From Rapporteur’s Criticism of Denmark *

Mar 22nd, 2006 | Filed by

Diéne talks a lot of sinister nonsense.… Read the rest



UN Rapporteur Warns Racism is on the Rise *

Mar 22nd, 2006 | Filed by

Prophet cartoons illustrate the emergence of racist and xenophobic currents in everyday life.… Read the rest



The Begum Judgment in Full *

Mar 22nd, 2006 | Filed by

Brother and ‘another young man’ went to the school and spoke to assistant head, who felt threatened.… Read the rest



No Upside-down Hobbesian Contract *

Mar 22nd, 2006 | Filed by

‘We are not consumers who buy our security and we are not living in Hobbes’s imaginary state of terror.’… Read the rest



Swedish Foreign Minister Quits Over Cartoon Fuss *

Mar 22nd, 2006 | Filed by

Laila Freivalds resigned after allegations she shut down far-right website for soliciting new caricatures. … Read the rest



Climate for Discussing Religion Has Chilled *

Mar 22nd, 2006 | Filed by

‘The momentum is with those people who use their particular, narrow faith to silence other voices.’… Read the rest