According to Prof Bolaji Idowu, “In Africa, it is idle to begin with the question whether witches exist or not…To Africans of every category, witchcraft is an urgent reality.” Unfortunately, I don’t know how Idowu came about this idea that it is pointless inquiring into the existence and non existence of witches and wizards. For me, it is not idle to begin with trying to establish the existence of witches or to subject the claims of witchcraft to critical evaluation. It is pertinent to do so in order to understand, tackle and eradicate the problems associated with this irrational belief. It is rather cowardly to avoid the question whether witches exist or not when dealing with issues related to witchcraft. … Read the rest
This idea of de-privileging any one meaning
Aug 19th, 2011 12:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonThanks to Terry Glavin, I saw this postmodernist article on postmodernism, by one Edward Docx. Now there’s a postmodern nym. Let’s all change our names to App.
It’s too stinking long (shouldn’t pomo articles on pomo be wittily short? or do I mean ironically short?) so I might cut it up into bits. Or I might just say one bitty thing and leave it at that. Who knows. That’s postmodern.
Postmodernism was a high-energy revolt, an attack, a strategy for destruction. It was a set of critical and rhetorical practices that sought to destabilise the modernist touchstones of identity, historical progress and epistemic certainty.
Or, to put it another way, it was a set of conceited goons in literature … Read the rest
Postmodernism is now a museum piece
Aug 19th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBut when it was young it invented everything and corrected everything and overthrew everything. Srsly.… Read the rest
Terry Glavin on jettisoning Afghan democracy
Aug 19th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThere’s nothing like lowering your standards to make them easier to uphold.… Read the rest
Take back the liberal arts
Aug 19th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAndrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus argue that undergraduate humanities courses should not be esoteric and specialized.… Read the rest
The Yale Journal of Quantum Physics and Neuroscience
Aug 18th, 2011 5:31 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis is a new style of con game – setting up a journal that sounds as if it’s a specialist journal when it’s actually just some undergraduates writing essays.
Orac read the latest issue and pointed out some of the raving nonsense in it, presumably because it’s called the Yale Journal of Medicine & Law and so should be expected to know better. It sounds like an actual journal, doesn’t it, written by and for specialists in medicine and law. It turns out (according to commenters) it’s no such thing. Well then why call it that? Besides to deceive and trick people, that is.
Kids today. Phooey.… Read the rest
A timely word
Aug 18th, 2011 5:12 pm | By Ophelia BensonHooray for William Raillant-Clark and his article about Dennis Markuze.
Considering the number of death threats and abuse researchers in Montreal
receive from around the world, it is appalling and shameful that our own police service is not acting rapidly and decisively to protect their international colleagues. It is appalling and shameful that our police react promptly to threats to Quebec journalists but not to those based abroad.
Thank you. That’s what we’ve been thinking.… Read the rest
Mabus goes quiet
Aug 18th, 2011 11:38 am | By Ophelia BensonTim Farley’s History of Mabus is terrifically useful, and naturally rather shocking.
But let me assure you, Mabus’ threats go way beyond the norm, both in content and sheer volume. I talked about the volume above, so let’s see some of the content.
He tells people they are going to die that day or “cease to exist”. He threatens executions. He uses offensive terms starting with “bitch” and getting far worse. He threatens people’s loved ones…He threatens to cut off people’s heads and tells them they are “finished.” He asks people if they think they “deserve to live”. He says he is going to “pound you into the dust” and that you will suffer the “worst form of torture.”
But … Read the rest
Yale Journal of Medicine & Law blows it on alt med
Aug 18th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonChiropractic was once viewed as “quackery,” but now it’s become “mainstream.” It’s popular! Therefore there must be something to it! … Read the rest
William Raillant-Clark’s article on Dennis Markuze
Aug 18th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe one that finally convinced the Montreal police to take Markuze’s threats seriously.… Read the rest
Tim Farley gives the history of “David Mabus”
Aug 18th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIn five weeks he went through over 330 Twitter accounts. … Read the rest
Montreal police arrest “David Mabus”
Aug 18th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMontreal police would not reveal the identity of the suspect, saying only that he would undergo a psychiatric evaluation shortly.… Read the rest
Abuse in Christian reform schools
Aug 17th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“We have laws to protect people from illegal incarceration,” says one alum. “But apparently not if you’re a teenage girl.”… Read the rest
£205k to NHS for “spiritual healing therapies”
Aug 17th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe “therapy” involves the running of hands over the patient’s body (without touching) to radiate “healing energy.”… Read the rest
Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese close to financial ruin
Aug 17th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPeople aren’t going to mass any more so they aren’t giving the church money any more.… Read the rest
Spain ‘foils gas attack on anti-Pope protesters’
Aug 17th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe suspect planned to attack a march with “asphyxiating gases and other chemical substances”, police said.… Read the rest
The magic vibrations of the original substance
Aug 17th, 2011 3:26 pm | By Ophelia BensonCorporate behemoth tries to put the frighteners on one powerless blogger because he said things about one of its risible products. (Yes risible. Go ahead, sue me.)
… Read the rest…the international homeopathy producer, Boiron, is threatening a lone Italian blogger because he dared to criticize their product, Oscillococcinum. The blogger, Samuele Riva, wrote two articles on his blog, blogzero.it, criticizing what our own Mark Crislip has called “oh-so-silly-coccinum.”
…
Boiron is the largest manufacturer of homeopathic products in the world and the second largest manufacturer of over-the-counter products in France.What they are doing to this small blogger, in my opinion, is nothing less than corporate thuggery. They are using their resources and their corporate lawyers to try to silence completely legitimate
The London riots and folk psychology run amok
Aug 17th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNone of the researchers interviewed are working on crowd psychology, yet all are quoted as using discredited psychological theories.… Read the rest
Blogzero on Boiron and the Streisand effect
Aug 17th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBoiron is getting lots and lots of publicity, all of it bad.… Read the rest
Steven Novella on homeopathic thuggery
Aug 17th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThey are using their resources and their corporate lawyers to try to silence completely legitimate criticism of their pseudoscientific products.… Read the rest