‘Degrade’ carries on its face that there is a standard in light of which some person is being reduced.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Indian Government Will Shelter Nasreen – If 
Nov 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Expected that the guests will refrain from activities and expressions that may hurt the sentiments of our people.… Read the rest
Tom Clark on The Specter of Scientism
Nov 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Tikkun also worries about the supposed dangers of scientism and the need for a spiritual way of knowing.… Read the rest
Turkish Prosecutor Ponders The God Delusion
Nov 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Publisher could go on trial if the prosecutor concludes the book incites religious hatred and insults religious values.… Read the rest
‘What can’t be named Muhammad?’
Nov 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘What are the rules on using the name?’ Step one: wring hands. Step two: call the MCB.… Read the rest
Gillian Gibbons Taken to Court
Nov 29th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Miliband said he emphasised Britain’s respect of Islam.’ Grovel grovel.… Read the rest
Bunglawala Refused to Condemn Stoning
Nov 28th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It had happened during the lifetime of the Prophet, he said, ‘so you are asking me to condemn my Prophet.’… Read the rest
Fundamentalist Christianity in the US Military
Nov 28th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Many Dominionist soldiers want the US to invade Iran, thereby triggering the Rapture.… Read the rest
Who’s Afraid of ‘Soulless Scientism’?
Nov 28th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We alone among the animals have the power to create a straw man and spend an entire evening knocking it down. … Read the rest
Jean Kazez on Ishiguro on Compliance
Nov 28th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why do his clones comply? Why do the women of Saudi Arabia?… Read the rest
Gillian Gibbons Now Charged With Insulting Religion
Nov 28th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Teacher charged with insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs. … Read the rest
Dignitas
Nov 27th, 2007 3:22 pm | By Ophelia BensonOkay, you tell me – what does the phrase ‘human dignity’ mean? I don’t mean look it up, I can do that and that’s not what I’m asking anyway; I mean what does it mean as far as you know? What, if anything, does it suggest to you if you hear it or read it? A commenter pretended to find it scary as well as funny that potentilla and I both consider it meaningless, so I’m curious.
Why do I consider it meaningless? I suppose largely because it doesn’t seem to refer to anything real. What human dignity? I don’t consider humans to have much dignity. We’re too mortal, too fleshy, too fragile, too clumsy, too weak, too dim to … Read the rest
Scientific Method: Evidence, not Faith
Nov 27th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Paul Davies sets up a flimsy straw man and proceeds to flog it mercilessly. … Read the rest
The Teddy-bear: Readers’ Views
Nov 27th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The children themselves should be punished for having chosen the name of our great Prophet for a lowly bear. … Read the rest
Translating Stoppard in Moscow
Nov 27th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
19th-century liberal ideas can sound dangerously modern on the Moscow stage of today.… Read the rest
Teddy-bear Crime All a Misunderstanding
Nov 27th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
There was no apparent intention to offend Islamic sensibilities, Bunglawala said.… Read the rest
Golden Compass Trilogy is Atheist
Nov 27th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No it’s not, it’s liberal theist. Which is worse?… Read the rest
“Skepticism” and Ignorance
Nov 27th, 2007 | By George M. FelisImagine you found a pretty crystal while on a hike at a park. Suppose that a few hundred meters further on the hike, you ran into another hiker and struck up conversation. In that conversation, you show them your pretty crystal: “Hey, look at this neat-o quartz I found!”
Suppose your new hiker acquaintance responds by saying, “Actually, that’s not quartz at all, it’s feldspar. When I’m not a nature hiker, I’m a geology professor and a licensed gemologist.”
Naturally, your reaction (assuming you are not yourself a geologist or something) would be to say, “I don’t think so. I still say it’s a quartz. It looks all… quartz-y!”
What? That wouldn’t be your reaction?
No, of course not. Such … Read the rest
Miscellany
Nov 26th, 2007 4:24 pm | By Ophelia BensonJesus and Mo discuss the ‘personally offensive’ issue. I would love to think Bill Buckingham will see that – but perhaps if he did he wouldn’t realize that it was about people like him.
Richard Chappell also discusses it.
… Read the restIt’s so depressing how arbitrary subjective responses are presented in public discourse as though they were legitimate reasons…The underlying problem, I suspect, is that our public culture has become so infected with subjectivist assumptions that people don’t realize that there’s a difference between desires and reasons. Sentiments are taken as given; no-one ever stops to question whether their reactive attitudes are warranted. Any kind of negative emotion is not just evidence, but constitutive, of suffering injustice. You’re
‘Gulabi Gang’ Tackles Sexism in Uttar Pradesh
Nov 26th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Locals unsurprised at a women’s vigilante group in this landscape of poverty, discrimination and chauvinism. … Read the rest
