The issue is fraud, not freedom of expression.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Ward Churchill Allegations ‘Not Frivolous’
Apr 30th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUniversity’s research-misconduct committee requests answer to accusations of academic fraud. … Read the rest
They Even Look Like Elvis. Same Quiff
Apr 29th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCelebrate.… Read the rest
Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
Apr 29th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOne male spotted so far. Let’s hope there are more.… Read the rest
It’s Alive! It’s Alive!
Apr 29th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIvory-billed woodpecker is not extinct after all. Champagne all around.… Read the rest
Wormwood Scrubs For Me, Thanks
Apr 28th, 2005 9:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonReally, it is a wonder that anyone goes into teaching, and even more of one that anyone stays. It sounds a hell of a lot worse than being a prison guard.
‘One of the most important things about Classroom Chaos is that the schools were chosen randomly by Thomas’s supply teacher agencies, and most had been identified by Ofsted as being average or better than average,’ he said.
‘The situation was so constant that we can confidently say anti-social behaviour is an everyday reality in classrooms across Britain,’ he added. ‘It is an appalling situation and one which must not be allowed to continue: education is being strangled.’
Lest you think it’s any better in the US, it’s not. … Read the rest
Egg-Implantation-Prevention is Murder!
Apr 28th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEven though fertilized eggs naturally fail to implant 40 to 60 percent of the time.… Read the rest
Terry Eagleton on Literary Wittgenstein
Apr 28th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWittgenstein is the philosopher of novelists and movie directors. Hmmm…… Read the rest
E O Wilson on the Launch of ‘Sustainability’
Apr 28th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhy Internet magazines can be useful.… Read the rest
Forget Teaching, It’s Only Crowd Control
Apr 28th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt’s a wonder there are any teachers left…… Read the rest
Hold the Irony
Apr 27th, 2005 8:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonMichael Lynch has a terrific article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed – about liberalism and passion and communitarianism, and truth, commitment, relativism, Rawls and comprehensive liberalism, and the fact that liberals do in fact have actual commitments, that they can argue and defend with passion.
… Read the restSocial conservatives have long argued that progressive liberals, in trumpeting individual rights, ignore traditional communities as a source of value…But as the neocons are well aware, traditional family values frequently clash with liberal values…Some traditional communities are rife with intolerant oppression — precisely the sort of thing that enlightenment liberalism is presumably meant to combat. Surely liberals needn’t tolerate intolerance.
Walzer valiantly attempts to deal with that concern. But in the end, his principle
The Struggle Continues
Apr 27th, 2005 7:24 pm | By Ophelia BensonWell at least some people are fighting back. I sure do hope they succeed.
Placard-waving women protesting against the “Talibanisation” of Pakistan demonstrated outside the national parliament yesterday after a mob attacked female runners. The attack has spurred worries about the growing influence of Islamic extremists.
A week ago baton-wielding men threw petrol bombs and torched vehicles at a mini-marathon in Gujranwala…
Which was one of the first to allow women to participate. Can’t have that. Women are things, sluts, devils, son-factories, and on all those counts they must not be allowed to – well, do anything, really.
… Read the rest“This has got to stop,” said a protester, Aisha Shaukat, outside parliament yesterday. “These mullahs want us to just stay home,
University Admissions and Athletes
Apr 27th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDemand for athletes plays a larger role in admissions than most people realize.… Read the rest
Liberalism Doesn’t Need Communitarian Correction
Apr 27th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt needs conviction, which underpins passion.… Read the rest
Women Protest Talibanization of Pakistan
Apr 27th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘These mullahs want us to just stay home, have children and God knows what else.’… Read the rest
Toddler Enslaved to Punish Her Uncle in Pakistan
Apr 27th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonVillage courts are illegal but powerful; common for verdicts to target innocent, particularly women.… Read the rest
Girl and Parents Threaten Self-immolation
Apr 27th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHuman rights organisations criticise increase in crimes against women in Pakistan.… Read the rest
Habermas on Discursive Communication
Apr 27th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonVictor Navasky: journalism is supposed to be opinionated, that’s its job.… Read the rest
We Need to Fight the Battle for Enlightenment
Apr 27th, 2005 | By Azam KamguianI am delighted to be here today to speak at such a wonderful conference. Here, I talk as an apostate, an atheist who left Islam and religion altogether at the age of 15, a veteran activist of women’s rights who survived the atrocities committed by political Islam in Iran.
My being a Muslim, like all other children who are accidentally born into Muslim families, was hereditary. My parents were ordinary Muslims. My father was relatively open-minded but my mother indoctrinated us and used religious rules for protecting her children. In my childhood, faith meant that I had an all powerful all knowing father figure watching over me. Anything bad that happened to me – he’d take care of me. To … Read the rest