The struggle against terror in the intermediate zone hasn’t been theorised much.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Edmund Wilson Was a Journalist Not a Critic
Aug 8th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Alfred Kazin and Richard Hofstadter used to read aloud famous ending of Proust chapter.… Read the rest
Why Aren’t Movies Better?
Aug 8th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Because the global market is the youth market.… Read the rest
Denis Dutton on Bovary’s Ovaries
Aug 8th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Book on evolutionary psychology in literature is interesting but leaves too much out.… Read the rest
Michael Kazin Reviews Christopher Hitchens
Aug 8th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Nearly all his writing full of sly observations as well as something to disagree with.… Read the rest
More on Eccentric Reportage
Aug 7th, 2005 11:12 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Guardian on Dilpazier Aslam and his critics, part 2. Scott Burgess pointed out this article by Shiv Malik in the New Statesman.
… Read the restWhat readers of the Guardian were not told was that Aslam is a member of the extreme Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir. Though it publicly dissociates itself from violence, Hizb ut-Tahrir is shunned by most British Muslims and banned from many mosques…My strongly held view is that members of such a group should not be allowed to write on this subject in the national press (just as the British National Party, which also claims to be non-violent, is very rarely given space), but if they do their connection should be made clear, preferably at the beginning of the
Johann Hari on Multiculturalism
Aug 7th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Multiculturalism demands tolerance and respect for reactionary traditions. … Read the rest
Salman Rushdie on Need for Reform in Islam
Aug 7th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Closed communities are places where young men’s alienations can easily deepen.… Read the rest
Ni Putes ni Soumises
Aug 7th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Neither sluts nor submissives: Fadela Amara offers respect instead.… Read the rest
Ian Buruma Talks to Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Aug 7th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘I have nobody to accuse me of being decadent, westernised, a traitor, a… slut.’… Read the rest
No, It’s Not About Boredom
Aug 7th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Watching the left suck up to Islamism inspires anger and scorn, but not boredom.… Read the rest
Worries About Religious State Schools
Aug 7th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Labour MPs worry religious schools may exacerbate religious divides.… Read the rest
Robin Cook Dies
Aug 7th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Collapsed while hill-walking in Scotland.… Read the rest
A Staff Reporter
Aug 7th, 2005 1:02 am | By Ophelia BensonRemember that peculiar article in the Guardian after it fired Dilpazier Aslam? It was two weeks ago now, but I want to mumble a few belated words.
Rightwing bloggers from the US, where the Guardian has a large online following, were behind the targeting last week of a trainee Guardian journalist who wrote a comment piece which they did not care for about the London bombings. The story is a demonstration of the way the ‘blogosphere’ can be used to mount obsessively personalised attacks at high speed.
That’s peculiar stuff. There were leftwing bloggers not from the US who criticized Aslam. And why call it ‘targeting’? (To make it sound illegitimate, that’s why.) And ‘did not care for’ is a … Read the rest
Galloway on Today [audio]
Aug 6th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Typical measured, reasoned, cogent exposition of his views.… Read the rest
Whither Multiculturalism, Again?
Aug 6th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Nick Cohen, Andrew Gilligan, Camilla Cavendish, Ann McEvoy on Radio 4.… Read the rest
The Hijab Does a Great Job Protecting Women
Aug 6th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Which theory is the most rubbish, Burchill wonders.… Read the rest
Helen Elliott Talks to Martha Nussbaum
Aug 6th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Claiming something based on fame and authority is death to the intellectual life.’… Read the rest
Argument Over Jared Diamond Displays Tics
Aug 6th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Such as evaluation of arguments on political grounds.… Read the rest
Exciting New Scholarship
Aug 6th, 2005 2:55 am | By Ophelia BensonDisability studies has hit town. Actually it did that a longish time ago – this reporter may be a little behind the times. I noticed a new ‘Disability studies’ section in the University bookstore several years ago, and there are jokes about the subject in the Dictionary, which we started writing three years ago.
… Read the restNow disabled people have gotten into the business of problematizing: Disability studies has arrived in academia. Of course, the medical study of disability is long-standing, but the new approach establishes an interdisciplinary field on the model of women’s, queer, and ethnic studies…”Disability studies is us looking out at the world and seeing how that looks to us.” It also critiques “how disability is represented in all