I don’t find it particularly shocking or alarming that an Edinburgh school doesn’t want to teach To Kill a Mockingbird. There are a lot of better books, and schools can’t teach all of them, so…so what?

A Scottish secondary school will no longer teach the classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird after teachers claimed the book promotes a “white saviour” narrative.

Well, it does. I like the book, but more for its picture of childhood than for the Atticus Finch part. I don’t hate that part, I wouldn’t urge anyone not to read the novel because of that part, but it is there.

Now if it were Huck Finn it would be a different story, because that is a … Read the rest

Ken Zucker on that “science-based” review:

https://twitter.com/ZUCKERKJ/status/1412318648249860097 https://twitter.com/ZUCKERKJ/status/1412318650154037248

Sheer silliness is chronic in this ideology.

https://twitter.com/ZUCKERKJ/status/1412161378689953797

Facts are transphobic.… Read the rest

Jesse Singal notes some rather large mistakes in That Review at SBM.

https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1412131345665609729 https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1412131349402734597

Jeez. That’s quite a howler, and it’s a howler that is damaging to Zucker, i.e. a perceived Enemy of the Cause. That’s not how one is supposed to do these things.

https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1412146534267904004

“Science-based.”… Read the rest

Maryam rejects Naz Shah’s attempt to invent a crime of “emotional harm.”

Neither statues nor your prophet or anyone else’s need protection. Human rights do. Imprisoning people for 10 years for defacing a statue or executing people for blasphemy or apostasy as in Islamic states is the real harm, not free expression & your fragile sensibilities.

— Maryam Namazie مریم نمازی (@MaryamNamazie) July 6, 2021

Notice that Shah says the bill is to “protect emotional harm.” She says it throughout her speech, too. She means protect from emotional harm…by sentencing people to 10 years in prison for damaging statues (and, apparently, for “blasphemous” cartoons).

What a revolting plan.… Read the rest

Well, you know…”they” is only doing what so many others do. Why can’t Oli do that?

'I just felt trapped…'

We meet Oli London, who has caused controversy around the world after undergoing what they describe as 'racial-transition surgery' because they 'identify as Korean'. pic.twitter.com/8woBllb6kG

— This Morning (@thismorning) July 6, 2021

They says they feels like “someone that feels like they’re born in the wrong body so for the last nine years I’ve felt like I’ve been trapped – since I lived in Korea I feel like I identify as Korean”…and so on.

Of course nationality isn’t in the body, but it doesn’t do to point out what makes sense and what doesn’t, because that gets you into the … Read the rest

Kmele Foster, David French, Jason Stanley and Thomas Chatterton Williams in the NY Times on laws banning Critical Race Theory:

In recent weeks, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Iowa, Idaho and Texas have all passed legislation that places significant restrictions on what can be taught in public school classrooms, and in some cases, public universities, too.

Tennessee House Bill SB 0623, for example, bans any teaching that could lead an individual to “feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or another form of psychological distress solely because of the individual’s race or sex.” In addition to this vague proscription, it restricts teaching that leads to “division between, or resentment of, a race, sex, religion, creed, nonviolent political affiliation, social class or class of people.”

In … Read the rest

Well…

'How irresponsible can you get?'

Iain Dale's fiery clash with Tory MP Miriam Cates, who won't wear a face mask on public transport after July 19 because 'freedom is very important' and 'showing our faces is part of being human'.@IainDale pic.twitter.com/7qAR1HwTXY

— LBC (@LBC) July 5, 2021

…yes freedom is very important, but so is not spreading a lethal pandemic. Lots of things are important, and some of them are incompatible with each other, so we have to choose among them.

As for “showing our faces is part of being human” – other things being equal, yes, but when showing our faces=risking the spread of a lethal pandemic, not so much.

Freedom is a good, no question, but … Read the rest

Ok back to that polemic at Science-Based Medicine.

Early on there is a one-sentence paragraph that is arresting under the circumstances:

Bad science, however, remains bad science, and personal opinions based in confirmation bias and politicized beliefs are bad science.

Dr. Eckert “their”self isn’t being parsimonious with the personal opinions based in politicized beliefs in this review.

More accurately, Shrier’s subjects are “AFAB”, or “assigned female at birth“, because no one gets to choose what sex they’re assigned at birth. When discussing transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, this terminology is generally preferred over “biological male/female”, “male/female bodied”, “natal male/female”, and “born male/female”, which are considered defamatory and inaccurate.

Oh look, another agentless passive again. Generally preferred … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey at Maybe science.

because no one gets to choose what sex they’re assigned at birth.

I object on behalf of the English language.

There is no general rule that says that the statement “Person A is Category X” implies that Person A chose to be X. I didn’t choose to be white, or blue-eyed, or even human, but if I went around declaring that I was “assigned human at birth,” people would back away slowly and look for an escape route.

There are, of course, some types of X where there arguably is (or should be) an implication of choice. I’m thinking of Richard Dawkins’s complaint about referring to “Christian children” or “Muslim … Read the rest

Wo, this is a big step.

From the latest Science-Based Medicine blog attempt at defending their retraction of Harriet Hall’s review of Abigail Shrier’s book.

Advocating the prioritisation of social justice over scientific investigation. pic.twitter.com/MYfOJEvwVj

— Emma Hilton (@FondOfBeetles) July 5, 2021

This at a blog called “Science-based Medicine.”

I find it difficult to convey how appalled I am at this. And honestly, a little scared.

Whichever side of this issue you find yourself on, endorsing the deliberate abandonment of scientific investigation that may generate informative evidence is utterly shocking.

— Emma Hilton (@FondOfBeetles) July 5, 2021

So let’s take a look.

Irreversible Damage to the Trans Community: A Critical Review of Abigail Shrier’s book Irreversible Damage (Part One)

Very … Read the rest

National Weather Service Seattle is on Lake Washington, so they take nice snaps.

Lots of folks out enjoying Lake Washington on this pretty normal July 4th weather-wise. High so far in Seattle 76° ( it could go up another degree or two ) only
a degree warmer than the normal of 75° and only 28° cooler than last Sunday. #wawx pic.twitter.com/BbohsZibhy

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) July 5, 2021

You can just barely see Mount Rainier. On a sharply clear day it stands out like a giant upside-down scoop of ice cream.… Read the rest

When she became they:

The non-binary comedian’s hit TV show draws heavily on an often troubled life. They talk about addiction at 14, the loving parents who kicked them out, the older men who abused their trust – and the happiness they eventually found.

How do they know those older “men” were actually “men”? Is they the only person who gets to be special in this story?

Feel Good is a disarmingly autobiographical love story. It tells the story of a character called Mae struggling with relationships, addiction, identity and life on the comedy circuit. Mae is attracted to men and women, but to women more, particularly women who identify as straight. The first series focuses on Mae’s relationship

… Read the rest

Laurie Penny again pretending we all know that sex is a spectrum and that we’ve always known that and that there’s just no question about it:

The suggestion that two transgender women were close to being selected for the British Olympic team was met with outrage earlier this month. LGBT advocates were upset that trans athletes would have to face any queries at all over their right to compete as women, while others insisted that only “biological females” should do so.

Well, yes, biological females, as always. Why the scare quotes?

We are assured that the inclusion of trans women in Olympic sports, which is now possible after a rule change, is unfair because they will have a “natural advantage”

… Read the rest

Oh look, what was that I just said about the Essex Vice-Chancellor apologizing to “the trans and non-binary community” but probably not so much to the two female academics who were actually mistreated by the University of Essex? No sooner had I clicked Publish than I saw a brief Twitter thread by Rosa Freedman, one of those academics, which confirms that no, Essex did not apologize to them.

https://twitter.com/GoonerProf/status/1411770491044614147 https://twitter.com/GoonerProf/status/1411772108384972802

I’m so sick of these people – the ones like the sniveling Vice-Chancellor.

These ones:

https://twitter.com/NoFaceLocal/status/1411771710240604160… Read the rest

The Guardian reports, or gloats:

A university has apologised to transgender and non-binary staff and students over a review that suggested it had unlawfully no-platformed two female academics whom some had accused of transphobia.

You’d think it was the two female academics who were owed apologies, wouldn’t you.

The vice-chancellor of Essex University has written to staff and students to say sorry for the timing of the highly critical report, which was released shortly before exams and Pride month, and for the stress under which it had placed staff and students.

Blah blah blah blah, and meanwhile the stress on the two invited academics, and anyone who wanted to hear them, who respected them, who had a hand … Read the rest

A fine rant by an anonymous someone on Facebook which is apparently open for sharing:

When Antifa and other anti fascist groups started, they were about defending communities from racist & fascist violence and attacks. It is sometimes necessary & reasonable to use violence to defend yourself or others from physical attack. In the 70’s-90’s fascists were graffitiing & firebombing the homes of black people, firebombing left-wing & anarchist bookshops, physically attacking black people in the street, attacking trade unionists & anti racists, gay bashing & so on. The police did nothing to stop those attacks and in fact regularly colluded with the racists / fascists. In those circumstances there was little alternative but for people to join together to

… Read the rest

But but but my freedom to refuse to get vaccinated! My precious freedom I tell you!! Mine mine mine mine!!!

Unvaccinated people do more than merely risk their own health. They’re also a risk to everyone if they become infected with coronavirus, infectious disease specialists say.

That’s because the only source of new coronavirus variants is the body of an infected person.

“Unvaccinated people are potential variant factories,” Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told CNN Friday. “The more unvaccinated people there are, the more opportunities for the virus to multiply,” Schaffner said.

Yes but freedom. Freedom freedom.

The current vaccines protect well against all the variants so far, but

… Read the rest

I used to be on the same blog network as this guy. I had no idea he was like this.

https://twitter.com/ZJemptv/status/1411511290518986757

No, tell people not to display their “junk” around 9-year-old strangers, no maybe about it.… Read the rest

This guy…

https://twitter.com/KatyMontgomerie/status/1411654920479068164

That is, 60% of men who call themselves trans women are, according to another man who calls himself a trans woman, raped or sexually assaulted by other men in men’s prisons. Men assault other men in prison. Yes that’s a bad thing, and it shouldn’t happen. The solution, however, is not to put the men who call themselves trans women into the women’s prisons, because that just shifts the risk onto women, who are physically far more vulnerable. But Montgomerie thinks that is the solution. (Notice his breezy “most of which are non-violent.”)

https://twitter.com/KatyMontgomerie/status/1411683946174324741

I’m not replying with that, I’m replying with “don’t shift the violence onto women.” Montgomerie of course is expressing his indifference to women … Read the rest

So progressive.

After that she was chased out and drove away.

She was shoved by a man as she was trying to get in her car. #Antifa then threw water at her car as she leftpic.twitter.com/eZ3RlgpGTk

— AntifaWatch (@AntifaWatch2) July 3, 2021

… Read the rest