Repeated exposure to self-interest model makes selfish behavior more likely.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
The ‘Hype’ of Holocaust Commemoration?
Feb 23rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
French stand-up comic tries to justify his remarks; vandals daub swastikas on Muslim and Jewish sites.… Read the rest
Biting
Feb 22nd, 2005 11:45 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnd then there’s Nick Cohen on Ken Livingstone and his loyalty to another example of religious wisdom, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
The useful label ‘the pseudo-left’ has been knocking around the internet political blogs since 11 September, and it is high time it was brought into the mainstream media. It’s a shorthand description of the spectacle of left moving to the right, often to the far-right, and embracing obscurantists, theocrats and, in the case of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and its Baathist ‘insurgents’, classic fascists…All that the left has opposed since the Enlightenment become acceptable, as long as the obscurantists, theocrats and fascists are anti-Americans and as long as their victims aren’t Western liberals.
Which is intensely depressing, because their victims are … Read the rest
When Fariba Met Habib
Feb 22nd, 2005 9:26 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnd speaking of religion and the religiously-inclined and the contortions they can make to save the phenomena…There is this CBC documentary about two Iranian women who survive via prostitution. Homa Arjomand sent me the link. Homa gets busier all the time, with media and speaking engagements. Let’s hope there will soon be more and more women sharing the workload.
… Read the restFor over a year, director Nahid Persson filmed the everyday lives of two young female prostitutes as they eked out a living in a country where the profession is banned. The filmmaker often took great risks to follow Minna and Fariba as they sought out customers-men who would often marry them briefly, so as not to violate the laws of the
Skeptical Canon
Feb 22nd, 2005 8:23 pm | By Ophelia BensonHere’s a funny one. Hilarious, in fact.
Even within the Church of England, the idea of possession raises eyebrows. “The number of metaphysical assumptions it makes is quite incredible. It means there are such things as non-human evil spirits that can take possession of a human being and require to be told to go somewhere else by a greater power,” says Canon Michael Perry, who holds a doctorate in deliverance and edits the Christian Parapsychologist.
“Some Christians believe it happens frequently – they see demons under every rug and will perform exorcisms at the drop of a hat. My view is possession is very rare.”
You have to admit. That’s not bad. ‘The number of metaphysical assumptions it makes … Read the rest
Exorcism on Channel 4
Feb 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Canon with PhD in deliverance bemoans large number of metaphysical assumptions, urges fewer.… Read the rest
Prostitution Behind the Veil
Feb 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
CBC documentary by Iranian exile on the misery of women in Iran.… Read the rest
Wittgenstein’s Other Book
Feb 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The improvement of spelling was astonishing. The orthographic conscience had been awakened.’… Read the rest
How the Churchill Uproar Got Going
Feb 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Susan Rosenberg, Little Green Footballs, Bill O’Reilly…… Read the rest
Women in Physics
Feb 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If it’s difference in innate ability, what innate abilities would have changed so quickly?… Read the rest
Thompson Not Respectful of Politicians
Feb 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence.… Read the rest
Everyone Tried to Write Like Hunter S Thompson
Feb 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Para 9 wrong: Thompson said it about Nixon, not vice versa. (As if Nixon had the vocabulary!)… Read the rest
Andrew Delbanco on US Higher Education
Feb 22nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It seems that Stover is back at Yale. Boo.… Read the rest
The Long Arm of Coincidence
Feb 21st, 2005 10:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonWell that was a coincidence. Maybe there is an Intelligent Designer after all, plotting all our every moves.
I had just read, coded, and posted Julian’s latest Bad Moves, which is about getting your facts wrong, and not noticing or considering that you may be getting your facts wrong, and not pausing to consider that other people may be getting their facts wrong. So the next thing I did was go to Normblog to see what was new there. And what’s the first item on the page? A post about the BBC’s apologising for a story told on ‘Thought for the Day’ that turned out to lack evidence. That turned out to be a case of the speaker’s perhaps … Read the rest
Stupid Design, Inefficient Design, Cruel Design
Feb 21st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Maybe mysterious designer not ‘God’ but some mischievous or clumsy clever-clogs.… Read the rest
BBC Apologises for Apocryphal Story
Feb 21st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No evidence of Israeli Muslim conscript jailed for not shooting children.… Read the rest
Gonzo Journalist Kept Us All Honest, Friend Says
Feb 21st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Hunter was not only a national treasure, but the conscience of this little village.’… Read the rest
Uncle Duke Does a Hemingway
Feb 21st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Hunter S Thompson has killed himself with a shotgun to the head.… Read the rest
Outrage Responds to Livingstone’s Dodgy Dossier
Feb 21st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Outrage refutes Livingstone’s defense of his relations with reactionary cleric.… Read the rest
Ken Is One Sorry Mayor
Feb 21st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In the name of anti-racism, Livingstone perpetuates stereotype of Muslim as woman-hating queer-basher. … Read the rest