The philosopher Becca Reilly-Cooper on Twitter (@ boodleoops – yes it’s true, not all philosophers take themselves terribly seriously:

I’m pretty sure my grandfather *didn’t* fight for your right to threaten women with rape, torture and mutilation actually, free speech bros.

And I’ve read On Liberty several times, but I missed the part where Mill defends harassment, or threats to invade and cut women’s genitals.

Same here!… Read the rest

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So I was on a panel on multiculturalism should we worry about it on Saturday, moderated by Rebecca Goldstein, with Taslima and Katha and Sarah Jones. At one point Rebecca said we were agreeing too much so it occurred to me to try to fix that by bringing up not female genital mutilation but the male kind. (Instead of cries of outrage, though, there was some applause. Yet more agreement! What can you do.)

You already know what I think, unless you’re a new reader. I don’t think it’s parents’ “right” to cut off healthy bits of their infants for non-medical reasons. I don’t. I think the only reason we don’t recoil in horror at the very idea of cutting … Read the rest

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I’m at the airport. Way too early. I can see the top of the Capitol from this desk-plug-in spot.

There are sparrows in here. They fly along the windows as if they want to get out but maybe they’re used to being here. Maybe they’re like children raised wearing a burqa.

Taslima talked yesterday about being a child who said No, a child who was curious, a child who always asked questions.

Taslima is so amazing.… Read the rest

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What an amazing evening. I was sitting talking to Stacy and others at the reception and someone came up behind me and gave me a standing mini-hug, I turned and there was Taslima.

And after her came a bunch of other exes. It was exciting. Things are happening.

Taslima told a funny story about Mohammed bargaining with Allah to cut down the prayers from 50 a day – 50!! a day!! – to something more tolerable. 40? No no. 30? No no. 20?

Mohammed was a merchant.… Read the rest

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Sorry about weird disappearing posts and comments and whatever else is weird. I’ll straighten it out late tomorrow when I get home, or Monday. They were only tiny posts anyway.… Read the rest

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Hahahahaha me on a panel discussing multiculturalism with Taslima Nasreen and Katha Pollitt and Rebecca Goldstein – what a great wish-fulfillment dream. Perfect.

Wait…… Read the rest

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What an amazing evening. I was sitting talking to Stacy and others at the reception and someone came up behind me and gave me a standing mini-hug, I turned and there was Taslima.

And after her came a bunch of other exes. It was exciting. Things are happening.

Taslima told a funny story about Mohammed bargaining with Allah to cut down the prayers from 50 a day – 50!! a day!! – to something more tolerable. 40? No no. 30? No no. 20?

Mohammed was a merchant.… Read the rest

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

I’m here. Rumpled, plane-battered, hungry and foodless, grumpy, but here.

There’s a party of Young Communists staying. Alas they’re all on my floor. They’ve been shouting in the halls.

Did I mention I’m hungry?… Read the rest

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Oh hey, I forgot to mention I’m leaving. taking airplanes, busy, so things will be quiet for a few days. I’m off to Women in Secularism 3.

Now’s the time for you to talk about anything you’ve been wanting to get off your chest; nothing is off topic. And your time starts

NOW… Read the rest

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The Times-Picayune reports:

Legislation that will further limit access to abortion in Louisiana and would likely close three of the state’s five abortion clinics overwhelmingly passed the state Senate with a vote of 34-3 Wednesday.

Due to the addition of technical amendments, the bill will head back the state House of Representatives for another vote before going to the governor’s desk. The lower chamber voted overwhelmingly to pass the legislation — which is more or less the same now — the last time they saw it. So the bill is expected to face little to no opposition as it crosses the finish line in the Legislature.

Back to forced pregnancy and unsafe abortions! Back to women having no way out … Read the rest

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The Russian Orthodox Church is annoyed that a guy in a dress won the Eurovision song contest. This strikes Russians as hilarious, because The Russian Orthodox Church features guys in dresses.

The drag queen’s performance and its enthusiastic reception was a sign of the world’s moral decline and part the aggressive assertion of Western cultural norms, according to Vladimir Legoyda.

The chairman of the church’s information department told Interfax news agency: ““The process of the legalisation of that to which the Bible refers to as nothing less than an abomination is already long not news in the contemporary world.”

Yup. It’s a hot mess. People going in for abomination everywhere you look, and nobody but priests in dresses to … Read the rest

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Sinister.

Imagine that a little-known but increasingly powerful group of ideologues had hatched a plan to transform the United States into a Christian theocracy harkening back to the Dark Ages of Europe, a time when society was governed by the laws and officials of the Catholic Church.

Suppose further that this plan had a scary simple strategy: Recruit bright, young law students; put them through an intensive indoctrination program; place them in plum internships across the country; and watch as they swim upstream until they reach the top of the legal system, where they can create, enforce, and interpret laws according to a legal philosophy infused with fundamentalist Christian theology.

Got it?

Now learn that it’s already here. Sofia Resnick … Read the rest

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Another one from Anj.

Anjem Choudary @anjemchoudary

MCB Spokesman says he doesn’t believe in segregation between men & women but Allah (SWT) & the Prophet said they must be e.g. in gatherings

MCB Spokesman says that wife’s don’t need to obey their husbands but Allah (SWT) says that they must [Qur'an 4:34] i.e husbands have Qawama!

So I was curious about Qawama, so I looked it up. I found an article at Women Living Under Muslim Laws by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im.

 The most important principle of Shari’a influencing the status and rights of women is the notion of qawama. Qawama has its origin in verse 4:34 of the Koran which states that:

“Men have qawama (guardianship and authority) over women

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A terrific event in London on August 6 – so all you people who are gathering for the World Humanist Congress in Oxford August 8th could go to this:

“How to Make Enemies and Alienate People – the Philosophy of Offensive and Inappropriate Language”

It’s hosted by our friend Bernard Hurley.

The growth of social media has given an unprecedented opportunity for those who wish to gratuitously offend to actually do so but it has also given an opportunity for those who wish to take offence at mere criticism to express such offence. It’s clear that someone who uses offensive language is doing more than just conveying information, but what exactly are they doing? The job of the philosopher is

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More Choudary, because he’s just that good.

Anjem Choudary @anjemchoudary

Some images from the “Rally against Hindu Oppression of Muslims in India” http://www.demotix.com/news/4699759/anjem-choudray-protests-hindu-oppression-muslims#media-4699699 … Khilafah is the answer to India’s problems!

See what he did there? He presents a photo from a Rally against Hindu Oppression of Muslims in India and in the photo we see a poster that shouts ISLAM WILL DOMINATE THE WORLD! So the idea is that Hindu oppression of Muslims will end because it will be replaced by Muslim oppression of Hindus and everyone else.

What could possibly go wrong?… Read the rest

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How about a little exegesis on a short sermon by Anjem Choudary:

Anjem Choudary @anjemchoudary

VOTING for anyone to legislate laws is an Act of SHIRK. Remember that Allah will forgive all sins except that partners be set up besides him

Spoken like a true boss-man, Mafia don, tyrant, dictator, king. The one thing that’s not forgivable is the failure to be submissive enough to The One Top Guy. Everything else – torture, murder, enslaving schoolgirls, gang-rape – is forgivable, but not bowing down to Just That One Dude is not forgivable. Why is that?

It’s the principle of the thing.… Read the rest

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Eg-zactly.

Via Muslim and Exmuslim Women for Secularism… Read the rest

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That nonsense about Obama not wanting to call Boko Haram terrorists? It’s just another stupid right-wing talking point.

Aside from attacking Michelle Obama for publicly showing concern and lying about President Obama, one of the major spokes in the conservative effort to politicize the kidnapping of 284 schoolgirls in Nigeria has been to criticize the Obama administration for not designating Boko Haram (the group responsible for the abductions) a terrorist organization.

Why, then, is there all this video of President Obama calling Boko Haram a terrorist organization, long before the State Department changed its designation?

The mainstream media has also picked up the narrative. In fact, way back in July of 2013, CNN asked “Why hasn’t the

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And Jon Stewart retorted.

Stewart tore into Boko Haram and said that #BringBackOurGirls actually proves Twitter can be more useful than you might think at pressuring people to do something. And so in reaction to Limbaugh rolling his eyes at the hashtag activism, Stewart came up with a new hashtag for people to use: #F*ckYouRush. Stewart even contrasted the people speaking out on the girls’ behalf with “that f*cking guy” Limbaugh to show what the two sides are in this argument.

I don’t know. Some people just really should get better hobbies.

 … Read the rest

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