Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Irshad Manji, Homa Arjomand on globalization of political Islam.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Mariano Aguirre on Contradictions of Ignatieff 
Jul 17th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Can ‘reasonable people’ disagree about what constitutes torture?… Read the rest
Michael Ignatieff on Contradictions of Freedom
Jul 17th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The democratic turn in American foreign policy has been recent.… Read the rest
Catholic Church Organizing Protests in Spain
Jul 17th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Demo against gay marriage had air of nostalgia for certainties of Franco era.… Read the rest
Talk of War Merely Bigs Up the Terrorists
Jul 17th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘When is someone going to get 18th century on Islam’s mediaeval ass?’… Read the rest
Blair Hits the Bull’s-eye
Jul 16th, 2005 8:32 pm | By Ophelia BensonWell I must say – I think Blair nailed it. And if the people who disagree with him are ‘left-wingers’ – well then I’m a right-winger, which is not what I think I am – but then why in hell are they ‘left-wingers’? What the sam hill is ‘left-wing’ about sympathizing with or understanding the point of view of or wanting to negotiate with extreme right-wing religious fundamentalist tyrants? What? What? What?
… Read the restThe greatest danger is that we fail to face up to the nature of the threat we are dealing with…But it is a global struggle and it is a battle of ideas, hearts and minds, both within Islam and outside it. This is the battle that must
Blair Speech: What the Battle is About
Jul 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Not just terrorist methods but their views. Not just barbaric acts, but barbaric ideas.… Read the rest
Ian Buruma on Bad Arguments for Blame Bushblair
Jul 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Suicide bombers recognise no state outside imaginary community of pure faith.… Read the rest
Shocking Outcome in Afghanistan
Jul 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Woman dares to run for office.… Read the rest
Appeasement Won’t Change Minds
Jul 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How much is the world prepared to tolerate before intervening against murderous regimes?… Read the rest
Why Blame the Terrorists?
Jul 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why not blame the Enlightenment instead?… Read the rest
Unite Against Terror
Jul 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We stand in solidarity with all these strangers, hand holding hand, from London to Netanya to Baghdad: communities united against terror.… Read the rest
How Real Estate Went Pro, Then Academic
Jul 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sellers see what they are doing as a kind of applied social science.… Read the rest
Scott McLemee on Microcosmographia Academica
Jul 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
After almost a century, it remains as sharp as ever: parts might have been written last week.… Read the rest
Sex, Violence and Philosophy [audio]
Jul 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Three would-be hipsters discuss.… Read the rest
Describing Jihadist Terrorism as Reactive is Wrong
Jul 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Islamism is a real ideology; it is fatuous and counterproductive to claim otherwise. … Read the rest
Words 2
Jul 15th, 2005 8:58 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnother tendentious word, while we’re on the subject – another one that we’ve been hearing a lot lately (and hear a lot all the time anyway).
Community.
Yeah, so, what’s wrong with that? Well, it depends. It can be benign enough, if and when everything is going well. Except that condition never seems to apply, does it. And when things are not going well, community can decidedly cut the other way. Community works to exclude as well as include, as many people have pointed out; it fosters dislike or hatred of non-members as well as loyalty to and solidarity with members; and it can isolate. Trevor Phillips on yesterday’s The World Tonight talked about the way the multicultural emphasis on … Read the rest
Not Islamophobia but Paranoia
Jul 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
David Goodhart on the rhetoric of grievance.… Read the rest
Simone de Beauvoir the Bono of Post-WW II Paris
Jul 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She and Sartre-Geldof acted as triggers of public and political conscience.… Read the rest
The Ancient Quest for Emotional Integrity
Jul 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Kierkegaard and the place of emotion in philosophy.… Read the rest
