All entries by this author

Terry Eagleton on Literary Wittgenstein *

Apr 28th, 2005 | Filed by

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

Why Internet magazines can be useful.… Read the rest



Forget Teaching, It’s Only Crowd Control *

Apr 28th, 2005 | Filed by

It’s a wonder there are any teachers left…… Read the rest



Hold the Irony

Apr 27th, 2005 8:07 pm | By

Michael 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.

Social 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

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The Struggle Continues

Apr 27th, 2005 7:24 pm | By

Well 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.

“This has got to stop,” said a protester, Aisha Shaukat, outside parliament yesterday. “These mullahs want us to just stay home,

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University Admissions and Athletes *

Apr 27th, 2005 | Filed by

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

It needs conviction, which underpins passion.… Read the rest



Women Protest Talibanization of Pakistan *

Apr 27th, 2005 | Filed by

‘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

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

Human rights organisations criticise increase in crimes against women in Pakistan.… Read the rest



Habermas on Discursive Communication *

Apr 27th, 2005 | Filed by

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 Kamguian

I 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

So 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:

there’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

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Columbia University as Labour-gouger *

Apr 26th, 2005 | Filed by

Universities ‘liberal’? Not if you look at their labour policies.… Read the rest



Law on How to Teach Colonialism *

Apr 26th, 2005 | Filed by

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

Graham Larkin takes on an instrumentalist version of ‘truth.’… Read the rest



Cultural Highlights

Apr 26th, 2005 2:03 am | By

And a little more again, about that conference at the UN, because Azam sent me the link to this Commission on Human Rights report, and it has more detail than the news articles. You should read it.

Ms. Azam Kamguian from Iran was the first speaker in the session on ‘Infidels and Apostates’. She started by describing her own experience; growing up with an all powerful and pious father. The temptation to subordinate her being to God was very strong but when she was an adolescent she decided that she did not need religion to tell her who she was. “Even though I left Islam, I had to live with it”, she stated.
According to an extremist interpretation of

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Sharia TV *

Apr 25th, 2005 | Filed by

Whatever you’re doing, stop.… Read the rest



Girls Abducted Into Armed Groups *

Apr 25th, 2005 | Filed by

To do domestic and military work, and nearly always as sexual slaves too.… Read the rest



Another Pogrom in the Making *

Apr 25th, 2005 | Filed by

Muslim majority threatens minority sect in Bogra, Bangladesh.… Read the rest