“People have lost eyes. People have been killed, people have lost loved ones. What happened to me is minuscule compared to that. I have a voice in the media — they don’t.”… Read the rest
All entries by this author
A scientist would not threaten critics and try to silence them
Nov 27th, 2011 5:12 pm | By Ophelia BensonAndy Lewis of Quackometer wrote about his concerns about the Burzynski clinic, where Dr Burzynski charges people hundreds of thousands of dollars for an unproven urine-based cancer therapy. Within 24 hours he was in receipt of a threatening message from said clinic.
… Read the restYou have a right to freedom of speech, and you have a right to voice your opinion, but you do not have the right to post libelous statements regardless if you think its your opinion or not. You are highly aware of defamation laws. You actually wrote an article about defamation on your site. In addition, I have information linking you to a network of individuals that disseminate false information. So the courts will apparently see the context
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Nick Cohen on the defeaning silence about Rafiq Tagi 
Nov 27th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Compared to what liberals must face in the Middle East and beyond, what right do westerners have to put their paltry fears first?… Read the rest
Burzynski Clinic threatens Andy Lewis of Quackometer
Nov 27th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Via a PR guy who sounds like Sonny Corleone.… Read the rest
Sigh ents 4 gur ulls
Nov 27th, 2011 11:46 am | By Ophelia BensonOh look, science for girls – how kind of the boys to make some science for girls so that the stupid weak fluffy pink little things won’t feel left out. You’ve come a long way baby!… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Jesus and Mo chat about modesty
Nov 27th, 2011 11:38 am | By Ophelia BensonAnd the relativity of distance.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Tacit consent
Nov 27th, 2011 11:14 am | By Ophelia BensonNick Cohen ponders the absence of news coverage of the murder of Rafiq Tagi.
… Read the restEmin Milli, a liberal Azerbaijani writer, told me that Tagi appeared to be recovering from his injuries in a state hospital and then took a turn for the worse. He wondered how that could be. He was as suspicious about the failure of westerners to take an interest in the murder of a writer, whose “crime” had been to speak his mind. He’d tried the BBC, newspapers… everyone he could think of and no one apart from Index on Censorship was interested. “Why don’t they care?”
Milli has a touchingly simple belief in the power of free speech, but his question was not as naive
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Welcome to Kalispell
Nov 27th, 2011 10:13 am | By Ophelia BensonI guess Kalispell, Montana is off the list of places I want to live in. (Was it on the list in the first place? No, but now it’s on the Do Not Add list.) It seems it’s being colonized by white supremacists and anti-government right-wing lunatics.
… Read the restThe Pioneer Little Europe movement has brought dozens of white supremacists to the Flathead Valley. They are increasingly making their presence known by staging public events, openly recruiting and distributing racist literature, stocking up on firearms at area gun shows while dressed in neo-Nazi clothing, working for local anti-gun control and anti-abortion campaigns (according to Gaede), and issuing violent threats to perceived enemies, including Media Matters, which is now under “indictment” for
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Movement brings white supremacists to Kalispell
Nov 27th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Pioneer Little Europe invites “racially conscious” white Americans to relocate to Montana’s Flathead Valley to help create a heavily-armed Aryan homeland.… Read the rest
Take a deep breath before reading
Nov 26th, 2011 4:52 pm | By Ophelia BensonI don’t know how some people live with themselves. People who claim to be able to cure HIV through God, for example, and thus tell patients to stop taking their medication.
… Read the restAt least six people have died in Britain after being told that they had been healed of HIV, and could stop taking their medication.
There is evidence that evangelical churches in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow are claiming to cure HIV through God.
…
The healing process involves the pastor shouting, over the person being healed, for the devil to come out of their body, and spraying water in their face.
One of the pastors, Rachel Holmes, told our reporter, Shatila, who is a genuine HIV sufferer, they
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Churches told dying “patients” they were cured
Nov 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
There is evidence that evangelical churches in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow are claiming to cure HIV through God.… Read the rest
Mona Eltahawy on her beating and arrest 2
Nov 26th, 2011 3:41 pm | By Ophelia Benson“What happened to me is the tip of the iceberg.”
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Mona Eltahawy on her arrest in Tahrir Square
Nov 26th, 2011 3:28 pm | By Ophelia BensonThey beat her, they sexually assaulted her, they called her a whore - whore whore whore, over and over.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Jehane Noujaim on her arrest in Tahrir Square
Nov 26th, 2011 3:18 pm | By Ophelia Benson“All it takes is one military guy, one police person, who decides he’s going to mess with you…”
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
PEN on the murder of Rafiq Tagi
Nov 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Rafiq Tagi first came to PEN International’s attention when he was arrested on 1 November 2006 for an article comparing European and Islamic traditions.… Read the rest
Index on Censorship on murder of Rafiq Tagi
Nov 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In Azerbaijan, those who physically attack journalists are never brought to justice and the cycle of impunity there is truly shocking.… Read the rest
To make the world a better place
Nov 26th, 2011 11:54 am | By Ophelia BensonThe New Humanist has a fascinating piece by Paul Sims about Robert Lambert, the retired Special Branch officer who was head of the Muslim Contact Unit.
I’ve had some critical things to say about Lambert and his colleague Jonathan Githens-Mazer in the past – in June 2010 and April 2009. They talked evasive deceptive nonsense about the wonderfulness of Islamism and the badness of “Islamophobia.” They completely ignored the issues of women’s rights and homophobia. The stuff they wrote was extremely misleading – like this, for instance:
… Read the restWhile British Islamists are as diverse as British socialists, the interviews do reveal important unifying characteristics, most notably a devotion to social justice and a concern for community needs over individual
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Paul Sims talks to Robert Lambert
Nov 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The problems with recruiting reactionary patriarchal homophobic theocrats in order to prevent violence.… Read the rest
Jonathan Rée on dissing God
Nov 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
When Stendhal said “God’s only excuse is that he does not exist,” he was continuing a tradition of angry piety handed down from the Hebrew Bible and medieval Islamic poetry.… Read the rest
An atmosphere where a slide towards violence against women is enabled
Nov 25th, 2011 4:37 pm | By Ophelia BensonKyle Sandilands says it’s free speech and also that it’s quite all right and reasonable and why not? He explains carefully.
I’ll attack any journalist that attacks me that I think’s unfair.
Well what he means is, if a journalist says something about his show that he doesn’t like, he will not respond with an explanation of why she is wrong or a criticism of her reasoning, but rather, he will call her a fat slag, a fat bitter thing with a nothing job, and a piece of shit, and then he will tell her to watch her mouth or he’ll hunt her down. In other words he’ll say the most degrading things he can think of and then … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
