One male spotted so far. Let’s hope there are more.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
It’s Alive! It’s Alive!
Apr 29th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ivory-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 Benson
Even 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 Benson
Wittgenstein 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 Benson
Why Internet magazines can be useful.… Read the rest
Forget Teaching, It’s Only Crowd Control
Apr 28th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It’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 Benson
Demand 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 Benson
It 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 Benson
Village 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 Benson
Human rights organisations criticise increase in crimes against women in Pakistan.… Read the rest
Habermas on Discursive Communication
Apr 27th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Victor 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
Why
Apr 26th, 2005 7:18 pm | By Ophelia BensonSo what is going on here? Why is this issue not on the radar?
David Hadley asks:
…within these oppressive religious regimes – in this case strict Islam – there is a form of sexual apartheid too. Where women don’t even get the luxury of being even second-class citizens. Which makes me wonder why none of the left-wing ‘progressive’ media are calling for sanctions and boycotts of these regimes.
Surely it is a great cause for them to rally behind, isn’t it?
Karl adds:
… Read the restthere’s that post-colonial guilt thing going on. Women’s rights, gay rights, individual rights–they’re all so modern and western. They’re all undermining those fragile traditional cultures and turning everyone into atomized consumers who exist without real purpose
Columbia University as Labour-gouger
Apr 26th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Universities ‘liberal’? Not if you look at their labour policies.… Read the rest
Law on How to Teach Colonialism
Apr 26th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
French historians think it not up to state to say how history should be taught.… Read the rest
Horowitz’s War on Rational Discourse
Apr 26th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Graham Larkin takes on an instrumentalist version of ‘truth.’… Read the rest