I’ve been engaging in yet another round of trying to challenge the dopy sexism that is so common in internet discussion, as if someone had declared the internet a boys-only domain. This time the dopy sexism was in comments at Richard Dawkins’s site, in a thread on that dreadful article by Nancy Graham Holm. Someone called her a stupid bitch and I said I hate her article as much as anyone but can’t we say how bad it is without resorting to sexist epithets? Stupidly, I always expect elbow-jogs of that kind to be 1) self-evident and 2) sufficient, so I’m always surprised when instead I get a big indignant idiotic argument. I got one this time, … Read the rest
Der Spiegel: the West is Choked by Fear
Jan 6th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThis time, in contrast to the Rushdie case, few have shown solidarity with the threatened Danish cartoonists.… Read the rest
PaleoTexans Control US Textbooks
Jan 6th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCalifornia is too broke to buy textbooks, so Texas has more clout than ever. Be afraid.… Read the rest
Life Now for Kurt Westergaard
Jan 6th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDefiance helps – it reduces the fear.… Read the rest
Taj Hargey Responds to Anjem Choudary
Jan 6th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA ban is just what the party-of-one Choudary wants. Ignore him.… Read the rest
Oliver Kamm Responds to Nancy Graham Holm
Jan 6th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHe is not impressed.… Read the rest
Margaret Talbot Blogs on Perry v Schwarzenegger,
Jan 6th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonShe analyzes the bizarre arguments so you don’t have to.… Read the rest
Leo Igwe
Jan 5th, 2010 4:08 pm | By Ophelia BensonLeo Igwe and his father were arrested this morning.
… Read the restThe police team was led by Dr Edward Uwa the university leacturer who raped a ten year old student Miss Daberechi Anongam…About three years ago, Dr Uwa invited Ms Daberechi Anongam to do some house chores for him and forced her to bed, covering her mouth and raped her. She sustained several injuries in her private part. Leo Igwe and his family members led an intensive campaign for justice for Ms Daberechi. After a lot of intrigues,the police now started a prosecution on the matter at Ahiazu magistrate court Imo State. Since then, Leo Igwe and his family have known no peace as several pettitions have been written against them
Amnesty International Reports Leo Igwe Released
Jan 5th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLatest news: he and his father have been released on bail. Read the details.… Read the rest
Malaysia: Hotel Raids Target Unmarried Couples
Jan 5th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOnly the ones in cheap hotels though.… Read the rest
Swedish Motoonist Also Gets a Threat
Jan 5th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFrom al-Shabab, at that; lucky him.… Read the rest
Norway: Liberal Muslims Support Westergaard
Jan 5th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA group of liberal Muslims is calling on the Islamic Council of Norway to demonstrate in support of Westergaard.… Read the rest
Fear and Censorship
Jan 5th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMy take on Index on Censorship and the Motoons.… Read the rest
Leo Igwe Has Been Arrested
Jan 5th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAlong with his father; they are at risk of being tortured.… Read the rest
Westergaard probably planted the axe, too
Jan 4th, 2010 2:19 pm | By Ophelia BensonA commentator at Comment is Free explains about the axe-attack on Kurt Westergaard the other day.
It was the latest in a string of attempted attacks that can be traced directly to the offence caused by Westergaard’s cartoons for Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005.
Unbelievable, isn’t it? A guy with an axe broke into Westergaard’s house and made an earnest effort to chop him up with it, and Nancy Graham Holm is pointing the finger of blame at Westergaard. For drawing a cartoon.
… Read the restWhy did the editors of Jyllands-Posten want to mock Islam in this way? Some of us believed it was in bad taste and also cruel. Intentional humiliation is an aggressive act. As a journalist now living
An Expanded List of Female Atheists
Jan 4th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhen other polls and lists seem to forget our existence, every little bit of awareness helps.… Read the rest
UK Universities as Centers of Jihadism
Jan 4th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMany academics seem incapable of grasping that Islamist ‘radicalism’ is neither liberal nor left.… Read the rest
German Catholic Church Accused of Ignoring Abuse
Jan 4th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Bishops should have seen that he likes boys and recognised his manipulative actions in parishes.’… Read the rest
US Evangelicals Meddle in Uganda
Jan 4th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTalk about gay threat to family, are shocked when Ugandan government takes them seriously.… Read the rest
Russell Blackford Defends the ‘New’ Atheism
Jan 4th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonReligion is still telling everyone what to do, so it’s legitimate to question the source of religious authority.… Read the rest