He did not feel that his book was especially critical of Islam, but a religion whose leaders behaved in this way could probably use a little criticism.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Dawkins disses Mormonism shock-horror
Sep 11th, 2012 5:10 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Telegraph is outraged because Richard Dawkins had the temerity to say that Mormonism has ridiculous stuff in it. It uses loaded language to convey its outrage.
… Read the restRichard Dawkins on Sunday accused Mitt Romney of being a “massively gullible fool” as he launched into a furious tirade against the Republican’s Mormon faith.
Britain’s most prominent atheist attacked the core tenets of Mr Romney’s religion, saying that the Church of Latter Day Saints’ founding prophet was “a fraud” and that the presidential contender was “too stupid to see it”.
“No matter how much you agree with Romney’s economic policy, can you really vote for such a massively gullible fool?” asked Prof Dawkins during an outburst on Twitter that lasted several hours.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The healing of Cooper
Sep 11th, 2012 4:51 pm | By Ophelia BensonToday was Cooper’s last trip to the vet, to get the stitches taken out. His paw is healed! I still can’t take him out to run after the tennis ball at 90 miles an hour or to race over rocks to swim in the waves, but we can go for long walks.
Whew. Glad that’s over.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Eran Segev on a few cruel individuals
Sep 11th, 2012 4:08 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnother in Amy’s series: another guy saying yeahno, harassment and bullying and threatening aren’t funny or cute. Eran Segev, contributor to the Skeptic Zone podcast and to the Skeptic magazine (in Australia), and former President of Australian Skeptics.
He’s had some of it himself. Way too much of it.
… Read the restWhen organising TAM Australia, my fellow organisers and I were the subject of some astonishingly rude and unfriendly tweets and blogs over some decisions we made. Not one of the authors had contacted us to ask for the reasons behind the decisions. All were skeptics; people who wanted to attend the conference, and most eventually did. And over the past year or so, I have had a cruel and nasty
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Tom Holland threatened over documentary on Islam
Sep 11th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA Channel 4 spokeswoman said: “Having taken security advice, we have reluctantly
cancelled a planned screening of the programme.”… Read the rest
Anatomy of a bully is it
Sep 10th, 2012 6:06 pm | By Ophelia BensonYeah here’s Wooly Bumblebee’s “Anatomy of a Bully” post.
Her name is Kristina Hansen, by the way, she made it public the other day on a blog post about how evil atheism+ is. Hansen is easier to type than Bumblebee, and besides Bumblebee makes her sound cuddly. That doesn’t work for me.
So here’s her “Anatomy of a Bully” post that all the FTB haters were so wowed by.
What is bullying?
Bullying is persistent unwelcome behavior, mostly using unwarranted or invalid criticism, nit-picking, fault-finding, also exclusion, shunning, being singled out and treated differently, being shouted at, humiliated, excessive monitoring, having verbal and written warnings imposed, and much more.
Excessive monitoring! Funny she should mention it. Hansen and her … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
There is no low too low
Sep 10th, 2012 5:02 pm | By Ophelia BensonFucking hell. I keep thinking they can’t go any lower, but they always do.
Remember when all the FTB-haters were retweeting that post on bullying by “Wooly Bumblebee” at Is God a Squirrel? She’s an expert on bullying, she said. The haters were way impressed.
Today she has a post shitting on Jen McCreight’s father for writing a blog post saying boo talking shit on the internet and yay Jen.
Yes you read that correctly. Wooly Bumblebee/Is God a Squirrel wrote a longish blog post shitting on Jen McCreight’s father for writing a blog post defending his daughter.
You could light a small city with me right now.
Here’s some of Wooly’s shitting:
… Read the restBut, some parents are abject failures, such
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
A hassle
Sep 10th, 2012 11:52 am | By Ophelia BensonI’ve turned on comments registration for awhile. The trolls have stepped up their merry pranks, so it can’t be helped. Sorry for the inconvenience.… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Happy to be described as a traitor
Sep 10th, 2012 11:36 am | By Ophelia BensonAn anti-corruption cartoonist in India has been arrested for sedition.
Mr Trivedi was arrested on Saturday for a series of cartoons lampooning politicians. He refused to apply for bail at Monday’s hearing, and said if telling the truth made him a traitor then he was happy to be described as one.
Cartoons lampooning politicians – if there’s anything you’re supposed to be able to do without interference from the state, it’s lampooning politicians.
Government officials say that while they are in favour of free speech, there is a thin line between that and insulting national symbols, the BBC’s Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi reports.
No…That’s doing it wrong. Really. You don’t want to make it a crime to “insult national … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Dawkins says Mormonism is silly shock-horror
Sep 10th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHe should have said it’s sensible?… Read the rest
Laurie Penny on…er…Naomi Wolf’s Vagina
Sep 10th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonVagina, as has been observed across the mainstream reviewing press this week, is a very silly book.… Read the rest
India: anti-corruption cartoonist arrested
Sep 10th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAseem Trivedi was arrested on Saturday for a series of cartoons lampooning politicians. He is being charged with sedition.… Read the rest
Not reading Naomi Wolf
Sep 10th, 2012 9:38 am | By Ophelia BensonThe UK neuroscientist who blogs as (and at) Neuroskeptic reviewed Naomi Wolf’s new book for the New Statesman blog. I was surfing Twitter the other day at the moment when there was a deluge of tweets about Wolf and the book because everyone was watching Paxman interview her (and because I follow a great many people who watch things like that). Most were funny, all were scathing, and taken together they made for a hilarious few minutes. The review, however, just makes me cringe.
NS starts with an extract.
… Read the restWords, when deployed in relation to the vagina, are always more than “just words”. Because of the subtlety of the mind-body connection, words about the vagina are also what philosopher
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
15 items or fewer
Sep 9th, 2012 5:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonWhat’s the deal with people talking about sexism and someone asking “So is this only for women who experience sexism?”
The dialogue continues.
Someone: Women, then. I guess sexism doesn’t happen to men.
Replier: Always “What about the menz?”
Someone: No… always what about everyone. We ALL deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.
Well duh, but why does that mean we can’t talk about sexism without being jostled and chivvied and harried for talking about something that happens to women? The Universal Declaration of Human Rights doesn’t include a coda saying nobody must ever talk about or resist violations of the rights of particular people.
Shut up about racism, because what about everyone. We ALL … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Everyday sexism 2
Sep 9th, 2012 11:44 am | By Ophelia BensonAn ad I keep noticing here and there. The copy says
How Cruise Lines Fill All Those Unsold Cabins
And the image is
It couldn’t get much cruder, could it. (Well it could. It could skip the bikini and aim the camera up between her legs. But other than that…)
Hay! Look! Legs bum sex! Now click on the ad.
(I suppose they fill all those unsold cabins with women’s bums? That must be it?)… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Baggini and Krauss on philosophy and science
Sep 9th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThere are important questions that remain unanswered when all the facts are in.… Read the rest
Pribble’s project
Sep 9th, 2012 11:00 am | By Ophelia BensonMartin Pribble discusses the results of his 3 Questions project, Part One.
The first question was
How does your worldview, (atheism, skepticism or agnosticism, whichever is applicable to you), influence your life?
Martin summarizes the replies:
… Read the restIt seems to me that atheism/agnosticism/skepticism is either seen as a platform from which to build all of life’s experiences, or that it is just accepted as “the way things are”. In either case, it does inform parts of the respondents’ lives, particularly when it comes to the analysis of doubtful claims.
What it does show is that, of the 326 respondents, there is a level of certainty about how their worldview of atheism/agnosticism/skepticism influences their lives, and that most respondents did see this
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The faux-masculine shibboleths
Sep 8th, 2012 5:28 pm | By Ophelia BensonDon’t miss Bruce Everett’s great piece, “…assuming the mantle”.
I’ll give you a teaser to make sure that you don’t.
… Read the restI didn’t get it, and I haven’t got it for most of the time. I’m only just getting it – the faux-masculine shibboleths that I’m expected to observe, in order to be ‘one of the guys’.
Especially the degradation of women as rite of passage.
Don’t get me wrong…
I’m nobody’s knight in shining armour (I think this will be the last time I repeat this for some time), and I don’t believe in chivalry towards women – chivalry, as opposed to decency, assumes that women are frail objects to be protected like delicate porcelain in a world they’re
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Proxy decisions on genital snipping
Sep 8th, 2012 5:11 pm | By Ophelia BensonBrian Earp is unimpressed by the American Academy of Pediatrics ’s (how do you make a possessive out of that, anyway?) revision of its policy on circumcision.
… Read the restThey now say that the probabilistic health benefits conferred by the procedure just slightly outweigh the known risks and harms. Not enough to come right out and positively recommend circumcision (as some media outlets are erroneously reporting), but just enough to suggest that whenever it is performed—for cultural or religious reasons, or sheer parental preference, as the case may be—it should be covered by government health insurance.
That turns out to be a very fine line to dance on. But fear not: the AAP policy committee comes equipped with tap shoes tightly-laced,
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
…assuming the mantle
Sep 8th, 2012 | By Bruce EverettI didn’t get it, and I haven’t got it for most of the time. I’m only just getting it – the faux-masculine shibboleths that I’m expected to observe, in order to be ‘one of the guys’.
Especially the degradation of women as rite of passage.
Don’t get me wrong…
I’m nobody’s knight in shining armour (I think this will be the last time I repeat this for some time), and I don’t believe in chivalry towards women – chivalry, as opposed to decency, assumes that women are frail objects to be protected like delicate porcelain in a world they’re not equipped to deal with. Women are no such thing.
I’ve got an interest in this. If pseudo- and actual … Read the rest