Unfortunate consequences.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
The Power of Ideas – Especially Bad Ones
Jul 27th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe power of an ideology that is not social, economic, ethnic, nationalist, or political.… Read the rest
Liberal Academic Plays Golf Shock
Jul 27th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnd there are others. No names, but that queer theorist, that Marxist analysis guy…… Read the rest
Loonies Move to S. Carolina in ‘Christian Exodus’
Jul 27th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHope to establish ‘Biblical’ state. Even Bob Jones staff think they’re a bit much.… Read the rest
Flexible Labour
Jul 26th, 2005 11:12 pm | By Ophelia BensonHowever. I said I think there actually is a genuine grievance lurking behind all this rage and alienation we’re hearing about. I don’t know, I’m only guessing, but it’s my suspicion that this grievance is less bogus and worked-up than the ones that are more usually rolled out are. I don’t see this one mentioned much, if at all. Because – ? Because it’s too sensitive, too close to the bone, too uncomfortable to talk about? Maybe – but I don’t know.
Muslims in the UK are the underclass, and that’s why they’re there. They were recruited to move to the UK for that reason – to provide cheap (meaning unskilled, uneducated) labour. Just as Turks were in Germany, and … Read the rest
Time to Stop Polite Tiptoeing Around Religion
Jul 26th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhy are reason and enlightenment of less value than dogma and delusion?… Read the rest
Born-again Atheist Recommends RE
Jul 26th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSecular humanists have many reasons to be delighted at popularity of religious studies.… Read the rest
The Coerciveness of ‘Family Values’
Jul 26th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBe like us or else.… Read the rest
Bouyeri Given Life Sentence
Jul 26th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonVan Gogh murderer had said he would do it again if given the chance.… Read the rest
Women’s Rights in Iraq Under Threat
Jul 26th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonReligious groups seek to write Islam into the new constitution.… Read the rest
Make a Splash
Jul 25th, 2005 9:29 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis comment says pretty much exactly what I was thinking (and saying) a few days ago. I would guess that a lot of other people are thinking it too – but that’s just a guess. But it is related to Mona Eltahawy’s point, that it’s insulting for non-Muslims to think Muslims can’t take responsibility.
… Read the restThe notion that the British Muslim suicide bombers of July 7 were spurred on by some passionate form of public-spiritedness, of course, is both flagrantly idiotic and deeply dangerous…Yet Mr Ahmed’s apparent reasoning – that his nephew was compelled to kill himself and seven innocent people near Liverpool Street station by a combination of righteous anger and sheer desperation at injustices suffered by fellow-Muslims – is
Crash Course on Darfur [scroll down]
Jul 25th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWe have failed in Darfur.… Read the rest
Stanley Fish’s Original Intentions
Jul 25th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSkeptical of tendency to blur distinction between scholarship and politics.… Read the rest
The World Summit on Evolution
Jul 25th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonScience’s greatest strength: learning from disagreement.… Read the rest
Tariq Ramadan Says the Young are the Future
Jul 25th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘The young will have an enormous impact on the future.’ Very true.… Read the rest
Mona Eltahawy is Out of Patience
Jul 25th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘It is at least in some way bigoted to think that Muslims can only react violently.’… Read the rest
Eltahawy and Manji
Jul 25th, 2005 2:30 am | By Ophelia BensonMona Eltahawy in the Washington Post.
The July 7 London bombings did it for me. Perhaps it was because my parents moved us from Cairo to the British capital when I was 7 years old, and so London was my childhood “home.” Or maybe it was because our route to work and school every morning crisscrossed those same Underground stations that were targeted.
I know the feeling. As, of course, do countless other people – literally millions of them. They live there, they once lived there, they visited there, they have friends and relatives there. Many, many millions of people know the feeling.
… Read the restI’m sure it was also those dog-eared statements that our clerics and religious leaders read out
Wrong Verb
Jul 25th, 2005 12:03 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Guardian has booted Dilpazier Aslam, because of his membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir. You may remember his comment in the Guardian July 13:
Second- and third-generation Muslims are without the don’t-rock-the-boat attitude that restricted our forefathers. We’re much sassier with our opinions, not caring if the boat rocks or not. Which is why the young get angry with that breed of Muslim “community leader” who remains silent while anger is seething on the streets.
Sassy. Rocking the boat. Oh, is that what this is – sassy boat-rocking. Interesting take. Okay, and what is it that all this seething is about? Somalia? Bosnia? Kosovo? The Kurds? No?
Anyway, as Norm points out, Aslam did a silly thing after getting … Read the rest
More Background on Guardian and Aslam
Jul 24th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBlogger rebuked for staying indoors.… Read the rest
Background: the Guardian and Dilpazier Aslam
Jul 24th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonGuardian actively increases diversity of its staff. Diversity can mean many things.… Read the rest